Simon Yates suffered huge offday on Galibier: Could his unusual preparation be the cause (and what now)?

Phenomenon Tadej Pogacar triumphed in the Galibier stage, but for many shadow favorites in the Tour de France, it was a day to quickly forget. Matteo Jorgenson, Felix Gall, Aleksandr Vlasov, Enric Mas, Pello Bilbao, Simon Yates... They all lost significant time in the fourth stage of La Grande Boucle. The latter, who enjoyed so much confidence from his team Jayco-AlUla, failed to meet expectations. Could there be a possible explanation for this?

Prior to Tour stage number four — which later turned out to be a true disaster for some — IDLProCycling.com spoke with Jayco-AlUla team director Mathew Hayman. "The opening weekend was very tough," the 2016 Paris-Roubaix winner said about the challenging and also spectacular start of the stage race.

"Not only because of the course, but also due to the heat, it was really difficult. That took a toll on many riders or caused them a lot of pain. Those conditions also made it hard to race aggressively. Simon got through it relatively well," continued the cheerful Hayman in his account. "I'm curious to see what he can show in the real high mountains, like on day four. Then the differences will really become clear."

Will Yates start focusing on stage wins?

And the differences certainly became clear. Yates was nowhere to be seen and, like many others, lost several minutes. In hindsight, not participating in a preparatory stage race might have partly contributed to this. "Simon indeed didn't do the Dauphiné or the Tour of Switzerland. He spent a long time at altitude. That's not a problem, because Simon is a rider who knows very well what he's capable of and in what way," Hayman firmly said.

"He knows himself very well and is smart enough to know what he needs to do when, like in such an opening weekend. In my opinion, he came well-prepared to the Tour and didn't necessarily need those extra race days. I think he was fresh and ready to go. So, I don’t think he missed out on anything." Clear words from the Jayco-AlUla camp, where they will obviously be disappointed with how Tuesday turned out.

We already asked the question on Tuesday morning: what if...? "Then we'll have to see how the race develops. It's not a done deal yet. The motto is to take everything day by day. Maybe we will indeed go for stage results if the general classification doesn't work out. It's the Tour, so you have to seize every opportunity. We’ll have a better idea after the Galibier stage." With what we know after the stage, it now seems like the 31-year-old Brit will be chasing stage wins!