UAE-Visma rivalry causes friction in the peloton: "I told Yates about 15 times..."

On Saturday, the Tour de France peloton heads into the Pyrenees, which led many riders to set their sights on a breakaway (and a chance at victory) on Friday. However, the power struggle between the major teams UAE-Team Emirates and Visma | Lease a Bike left no room for such attempts, causing frustration among several other teams.

To say it was intense would be an understatement. Even Mathieu van der Poel noted that despite "insane wattages," he was reeled back in while riding in a breakaway of about twenty riders. Julien Bernard of Lidl-Trek was also in the group, trying with three other riders to stay ahead.

"It wasn't initially planned for me to be in the lead group, but Steven de Jongh told me the race would be on, so I could join," Bernard explained to the French branch of Eurosport. And he managed to do so. "Honestly, I thought the hardest part was over... I don't want to sound like a complainer, but I genuinely believed in it and didn't understand what was happening."

He was referring to the relentless pace in the peloton due to UAE climber Adam Yates being in the lead group. "I told Adam about fifteen times to let go, but he said no, that his team wanted him to stay up front. I understand UAE wants to tire out Visma | Lease a Bike, but the fact that Visma then has their entire team pushing hard the day before a big mountain stage... I don't get it."

Continue reading below the photo.

Grégoire: "It simply wasn't possible"

It wasn't just the Dutch team responsible for this, however. "I later heard that Cofidis was also pushing, and Decathlon AG2R... Then it becomes difficult," said Frenchman Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ, who was in agreement with his fellow breakaway rider. "It was super fast from the start, and we were in a strong, large group with big names."

"We believed we could make it and fight for the win, but unfortunately, the peloton didn't want to let some riders go, so they didn't let us go," Grégoire added. "I tried, together with three other riders, but with those guys chasing us, it simply wasn't possible."

Magnus Cort (Uno-X), like Michal Kwiatkowski, was also at the front with the Frenchmen but understood Yates' position. "The only unfortunate thing was that he was up front. Unfortunately, he had team orders to stay in the lead, and I tried to reason with him along with the others, but I also respect him and understand his team's tactics."

"I wanted to split the group further because I felt he was the only one holding us back," the Dane continued. "Unfortunately, there was only four of us, but it was a very tough day regardless. It only lasted three and a half hours, but it was very intense."