Visma | Lease a Bike rode for the stage win but had to save Vingegaard: "Going from standing still to 500 watts is not pleasant"

With Jonas Vingegaard solidly in second place in the GC, the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France seemed like an excellent opportunity for Visma | Lease a Bike to aim for the stage win. The Dutch team was well represented in the various groups, but in the final they had to switch to defense when Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel attacked their leader Vingegaard.

"We wanted to go for the stage win, with me and Tiesj (Benoot, ed.)," Wout van Aert stated afterwards to various media. "It was just hard to get a breakaway going, with so much interest. We tried to protect Tiesj's breakaway, but eventually a large group formed and it included many good climbers. Christophe (Laporte, ed.) and I tried there, but it didn’t work out for the stage win."

In the finale, it turned out to be quite fortunate that Visma | Lease a Bike had three men ahead. Vingegaard was isolated when Pogacar attacked and Evenepoel then pushed even harder. Laporte brought the Dane back to the duo, and when Evenepoel attacked again, Van Aert and Benoot limited the damage to twelve seconds. "I didn't see the attack because I was ahead, but we always expect an aggressive Pogacar. We are always ready for that, although I need to speak with Jonas to find out what happened. Now that Christophe, Tiesj, and I were still at the front, we could give him a hand in the finale," said Van Aert.

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Benoot gave his all in the breakaway and for Vingegaard

Representing Visma | Lease a Bike, Tiesj Benoot was in a strong position for a stage victory for a long time, as one of four men at the front. The Belgian mentioned to NOS that he had given everything he had. "I had to dig deep. I'm not sure how long we rode as a foursome, about a hundred kilometers. Of those four, Magnus Cort and I had chances to win the stage; we still managed to get over that climb (Col du Noyer, ed.) well. However, I was pretty spent, especially when those fresh climbers arrived."

Benoot thought his day was done, but on the final climb, he had to pedal hard again for his team leader. "After that, I was told that Evenepoel was ahead of Vingegaard, and that we had to wait. I rode the first kilometer of the final climb super slow until Wout, Jonas, and Pogacar caught up with me. I took one last turn at the front. I'm glad I could contribute, but it wasn't pleasant after such a ride. Luckily, I had some time to recharge beforehand. But going from practically standing still to five hundred watts is definitely not pleasant. Fortunately, we were able to limit the gap."

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Zeeman says it was Vingegaard's first off day

Speaking with Sporza later, Benoot didn't seem too troubled by the few seconds lost to Evenepoel. "We try to race aggressively, and we'll continue to do that. Today it paid off defensively, hopefully next time it'll work in our favor. We're not doing this for the cycling fans, because we're trying to win the Tour. It's going to be very difficult this year, but we're here with eight strong riders, and it would be a shame to give up in this very tough final week. It wasn't the best finale for our Dane. It was explosive, but the next few days will be different."

NOS also spoke with sports director Merijn Zeeman, who was calm about his leader's weaker day. "The first," he emphasized. "The conclusion is twelve seconds on Evenepoel and two to three seconds on Pogacar. It was the first day Vingegaard struggled to follow Pogacar, and also Remco; so the dynamics were different than what we've seen up to now. Friday we have the first major mountain stage and then we'll see how they stack up against each other," said the Dutchman. "The difference is still minimal and Friday we really enter the high mountains, above two thousand meters. We'll be on a completely different course then. Today, Evenepoel and Pogacar were very strong, let's hope the dynamics are very different on Friday."

Vingegaard will definitely need the support of Visma | Lease a Bike. Zeeman emphasized that Van Aert and Benoot were there for a potential attack from behind as well as chasing stage success. "Wout, Tiesj, and Laporte rode a fantastic stage. They were invaluable. Laporte was the best teammate Jonas could have on the descent. Wout keeps the gap stable and even closes it, and Tiesj did very important work. So the team and tactics were superb. Whether Jonas himself will attack? "We can make plans, but it really depends on Jonas. He has to feel whether he can still do it and whether he still has the legs. Tomorrow is another tough day and then we'll take stock for Friday. This coming weekend, everyone will find their place, it's that tough."