Visma-Lease a Bike’s strategy in stage 17 of the Tour de France had a sense of familiarity about it. At the start of the day, the Dutch squad were working hard to get as many riders as possible in the big breakaway which was forming in the opening 100 kilometres of the hilly stage to SuperDévoluy. They ended up with three riders making the move in Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot and Christophe Laporte. From then, the plan was clear: if one of them had the legs to try and win the stage then they could do so. If they didn’t, they would be the perfect satellite riders for Jonas Vingegaard when the general classification group caught them up again on the final climb, allowing the Danish rider to have extra teammates around him to do important pulls on the front.
It is a strategy that has worked wonders for the team before. Jonas Vingegaard practically secured his yellow jersey on the Hautacam in 2022 when Van Aert went in the breakaway of the day before pulling for his team leader on the climb, dropping Tadej Pogačar in the process. In that same year, Visma-Lease a Bike (then Jumbo-Visma), played a similar hand on the Col du Granon, using Primož Roglič and Vingegaard to make attacks which eventually cracked their Slovenian rival who lost almost three minutes on that day in the Alps.
Then, there was the famous Col de la Loze upset in last year’s Tour de France, when Tiesj Benoot and Wilco Kelderman got themselves in the breakaway in order to help Vingegaard later in the stage. The result was the Dane having three riders (including mountain domestique extraordinaire Sepp Kuss) helping him on the final climb and Pogačar shouting the words: “I’m gone, I’m dead" into his team radio. These are the ways they have been able to crack the UAE Team Emirates rider in the past.
It makes sense, then, that Visma-Lease a Bike would try it again in this year’s Tour. The problem is that it simply didn’t work on stage 17 of the 2024 Tour de France. Van Aert and Benoot still offered a helping hand to Vingegaard on the finale of the stage after being in the break, but they were limiting his losses to the rest of the general classification group following Remco Evenepoel's attack, rather than making the difference themselves.
“It was good to have someone in the break either to go for the stage or do what we did to help in the explosive final. It was maybe a bit less good for Jonas, but it was good that we still had some guys in the front to pull behind Remco,” Benoot commented after the stage.
“Of course [we are disappointed not to capitalise on the work]. We had four guys with 1:40 on the big group behind us working well together, and we had a really strong break of four. I had a chance to win a stage from there I think, but when the climbers flew by I knew it wasn’t for the stage anymore, and I was happy to help Jonas and the team in the final.”
Laporte and Van Aert agreed with their teammate that it was positive for Visma-Lease a Bike to be there to aid Vingegaard limiting his losses, but admitted that they had hoped for more out of the stage.
“We were in the break trying to win the stage with Tiesj and Wout, but Wout spent a lot of energy, me as well, it was not a good stage for me,” Laporte commented afterwards. “I was sure I wouldn't win the stage, so I tried to go at the top and wait for Jonas if there was a gap between him, Pogačar and Evenepoel. It was the case, so it is lucky I was there to close this gap.”
Pogačar himself even admitted in his post-race press conference that he expected an attack from Vingegaard today in order to get more out of the hand his team was playing. The simple reality is, however, Visma-Lease a Bike do not have the same strength in this year’s Tour as they have done in the past.
It’s not surprising when considering their preparation for the Tour: Vingegaard is only just coming back from his crash at Itzulia, and Van Aert’s preparation was also hampered by his crash earlier this year. Crucially, the team also seems to be feeling the hole left in the squad by the absence of Sepp Kuss. The American rider has been integral to Vingegaard’s previous Tour wins but was forced to miss the 2024 Tour due to illness. It’s been a turbulent season so far.
At the moment, the Visma-Lease a Bike appears to be trying the same tactics that might have worked when they had the strongest riders in the peloton, but there’s been a clear shift since last season. They wanted to take time in the general classification today, but, fundamentally, they failed. Stage 17 showed that the strategies of years gone by are not working. It might be time for a rethink.
