Jonas Vingegaard ‘probably the most disappointed guy going into a yellow jersey in history’ – Robbie McEwen

Jumbo-Visma paid a price for not adapting their plans to the shifting scenario on Stage 6 of the Tour de France, leaving Jonas Vingegaard as “probably the most disappointed guy going into a yellow jersey in history,” according to Robbie McEwen.

Jumbo seemed keen to repeat the trick, but the scenario was different as Pogacar was able to hold the wheel on the Col du Tourmalet.

Dan Lloyd, Robbie McEwen, Adam Blythe and host Orla Chennaoui were in agreement on The Breakaway that Jumbo’s plan was a sound one at the start of the day, with the error being to not adapt it to Pogacar’s improved form.

“It was impossible to expect that from Pogacar based on what we saw 24 hours previous,” Lloyd said of the UAE Team Emirates leader. “Jumbo-Visma did not expect that.

“They had a clear plan, and a really good plan I would say in the morning of the race to maybe put the whole GC to bed.

“It was a case of noticing weakness from Pogacar 24 hours previously, let’s go as hard as we can over the top of the Tourmalet and put a minute into him down the other side and to the finish.

“Alarm bells should have been ringing when Vingegaard attacked and Pogacar was there on the Tourmalet. They should have been ringing even louder when they got to the top of the Tourmalet and he was still there. And louder again when on the last climb Vingegaard goes on the attack and Pogacar sits on his wheel.

“Why on earth did he carry on pressing on when there was two and a half minutes to the yellow jersey and the other GC favourites? They could easily have rode in and kept the lead over Pogacar, minus perhaps differences in bonus seconds.

“As things stand, Vingegaard went into the yellow jersey but with half the advantage over his key rival so that was a huge mistake on their part.”

McEwen felt Jumbo paid the price for being far too confident.

“The plan was good but they got over-confident and stuck to the plan too rigidly and did not adapt to what was going on,” the 12-time Tour de France stage winner said. “As Dan said, based on the day before, now was the time to sink the boot into Pogacar, get rid of him and take more time.

“But Pogacar was there when the attack was made on the Tourmalet, was there over the top and we have since heard radio communication of the Jumbo-Visma team and it just blows your mind when you see what happened at the end of the stage.

“They were telling Vingegaard, ‘he’s on his knees, he’s going to go on the last climb, you can get rid of him on the last climb.’ It was quite the opposite.

“Vingegaard should have known. When he made that attack the day before he blasted a minute into him in a kilometre. He made the attack yesterday and Pogacar was right there, so you have to say to yourself ‘today is different.’”

Despite losing time to Pogacar, Vingegaard took the yellow jersey from Jai Hindley – but he may have done so with mixed feelings.

McEwen added: “But no, it was the plan, the plan, the plan and he’s probably the most disappointed guy going into a yellow jersey in history.”

A lot has been made of Jumbo’s tactics, but Blythe was simply in awe of the attack from Pogacar.

“When he went he was going so fast,” Blythe said. “When he winds up and gets out of the saddle, we cannot imagine how fast he is going from these pictures.

“It is absolutely bonkers how quick he went up that climb. Absolutely brilliant.”

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