This was very much not the plan.
As the reduced group of yellow jersey contenders rocketed into the base of the final, crucial stage 12 climb to the summit finish on Hautacam, Jonas Vingegaard was suddenly all alone.
While the diminished peloton picked its way up the lower slopes, Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike teammate and stage 10 winner Simon Yates slid off the back. Victor Campenaerts did a brief hard pull and then threw out the anchor. Matteo Jorgenson couldn’t hold the pace, and neither could Sepp Kuss. And with some 12 km yet to go, Vingegaard found himself on the wheel of a surging Jhonatan Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, doing a furious lead-out for his leader, Tadej Pogačar.
As Pogačar himself shot clear, far before anyone expected major attacks, Vingegaard almost immediately lost the wheel. It was a stunning reversal for a team that’s been among the most active in the race. Visma’s aggressive style in the opening half of the Tour turned seemingly inconsequential days into riveting GC racing, and as the race approached the site of one of their previous triumphs, where Vingegaard all but sealed his 2022 Tour victory, it looked like an auspicious opportunity. But it was not to be.
Dane Cash
How did the team fall apart on a day where it absolutely needed to perform? At the finish, riders and directors had few concrete answers.
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