Stage 6 of the Tour de France 2026 left an impression that goes far beyond Tadej Pogacar’s victory. The Slovenian not only won the Pyrenees queen stage, he also landed a psychological and sporting blow on Jonas Vingegaard that forces Visma–Lease a Bike to rethink its entire strategy for the next two weeks.
That was precisely the main talking point on The Move, Lance Armstrong’s podcast with Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin. Both agreed that Pogacar’s superiority compels the Dutch team to abandon the usual script if they want to keep their chances of fighting for yellow alive.
Bruyneel was very clear when assessing the world champion’s performance. “We all know Tadej is incredibly fast. He’s going to go very fast,” he said, before explaining that the truly extraordinary part was the level reached by the peloton’s elite. “Pogacar breaks the record. Jonas breaks it too. Del Toro as well. Remco, Seixas, Lipowitz, Ayuso…”
“All these riders have smashed the record.” For the Belgian former sports director, the conclusion is obvious: “This shows that every year you have to be significantly faster than the previous one to stay competitive.” However, the real debate is not about Pogacar, but about what Visma can do now.
In recent editions of the Tour, the Dutch team built its victories by gradually wearing down Pogacar until they found a moment of weakness in the mountains. After what we saw on stage six, Bruyneel suggests that approach no longer seems sufficient.
Be the first to comment