‘We are saving the team for the second and third weeks’ – Vuelta a España favourite Jonas Vingegaard explains Visma-Lease a Bike’s conservative approach

When the Vuelta a España peloton led by Visma-Lease a Bike curled its way round the sharp right-hand bend at the foot of the stage 7 final ascent to Cerler, it briefly looked as if top favourite Jonas Vingegaard‘s team would put down the kind of blistering climbing pace that usually precedes an all-out attack by the Dane.

Instead, after Vingegaard’s teammates Victor Campenaerts, Wilco Kelderman and finally Ben Turner had maintained a steady pace on the lower slopes of the 11-kilometre climb, rather than turn up the heat even higher on their rivals, the Dutch squad then opted to take things much more calmly.