Is Visma | Lease a Bike's new narrative just throwing sand in our eyes? Lance Armstrong doesn't believe in it

Every cycling fan was on the edge of their seat this Sunday when Visma | Lease a Bike attempted to attack Tadej Pogacar's yellow jersey. But only for a moment, as the Slovenian had his response ready, slightly defusing the tension in this Tour de France. Former rider Tom Danielson, who finished eighth in the 2011 Tour de France, advises the Dutch team not to give up.

On X, Danielson lays out his analysis. "Visma used a Scorched Earth strategy, where all riders clearly played their part. This was planned before the race and they all performed brilliantly, including Jonas. He also broke Pantani’s record," the American points out, referring to the final climb of the Plateau de Beille.

"With the high temperatures, this tactic caused more casualties, but did it also backfire on themselves? Certainly, they risked losing everything for the victory. Jonas was on an incredibly high level, which was confirmed by Tadej, who stated that the pace was very high. The strategy was well executed, but it didn’t work because Tadej was on a higher level than Jonas," says Danielson.

"The gap between the two is growing every day because Tadej is slightly better, not the other way around as everyone says," the American outlines. "It makes no sense how Jonas stayed so lean & ripped close to Tadej in the first few days after he hadn’t raced, and then got even better. Tadej had already raced a Grand Tour, but it’s logical that the best cyclist in the world would improve after a three-week race block, a month of rest, and then another three weeks," he refers to the Giro.

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Danielson: "Visma | Lease will still try to outwit Pogacar"

What should Visma | Lease a Bike do according to Danielson? "In my opinion, Tadej is still his own only remaining competitor. It seemed like he had the heat under control, so he has learned from his mistakes. That is crucial for the rest of the race, because in the past he has already made mistakes. That's exactly why Visma needs to keep the pressure on."

"The new narrative from Visma (which is already the third of this Tour) is now that they admit Tadej is better, but they are going to put on one last burn-it-all-down performance like Sunday," Danielson expresses his expectations for the last week of this Tour de France. "They are going to try to outwit Tadej one more time."

In the THEMOVE podcast, Lance Armstrong and co revisited the stage. "We've been critical of Pogacar earlier this week because of his unnecessary attacks and energy loss. But now he rode the perfect race. He was in Visma's wheel and he felt that Vingegaard couldn't shake him off, which was the moment to strike."

"The guys from Visma did what they had to do, but Pogacar is just too strong," concludes the man from Texas. "Even if Visma | Lease a Bike was at full war strength in the Tour, it would have made little difference. The record time of Pogacar says enough," he refers to the period in which the Slovenian rattled off Plateau de Beille, which was more than six minutes faster than Armstrong himself in 2002 and 2004.