In The Move podcast, Lance Armstrong argues that after Vollering’s crash earlier in the week, the team is fearful of fully committing to the Dutchwoman, and has simultaneously worked to ensure Chabbey would gain a strong position to win the QOM classification in case Vollering’s yellow jersey hunt does not work.
“They want to win both the yellow jersey and the polka dots. I wouldn’t do it that way, but I’m not part of that team,” he argued. “It’s safe to say there are questions surrounding Demi Vollering. Not only the media has questions, but perhaps her own team does too.”
He believes that this tactic can backfire and that ultimately the team can end up missing out on both goals. “That’s why they want to win at least something. And in a perfect world, they win both jerseys. But we certainly wouldn’t have used the same tactics”.
Ultimately, besides Maeva Squiban who came away from the day with a career-changing stage win, you could argue that yellow jersey Kim le Court managed to be one of the winners of the day, not having been attacked much on a day that could be very threatening for her race lead.
“What what you do know is in both the intermediate time bonus sprint and the finish line sprint, Kim Le Court got time,” the American argues. “Right. So if you look at her, she’s obviously she she fortifies her yellow jersey. She now has 26 seconds on Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot], 30 seconds on Kasia [Niewiadoma], 31 seconds on Demi [Vollering] and 35 seconds on Anna Van der Breggen. So she is gaining time now. There’s there’s two ways to look at one is perfect team tactics: Go up the road, take the time bonuses so that Kim Le Court can’t get them”. Ultimately with her third place on the stage, in the peloton sprint, the rider from Mauritius did still take bonus seconds.
“Now she is getting them because she’s getting the you know, she both cases she took. Well, I guess in the in the intermediate, she took second place time bonuses and then third at the finish line. You know, or you could look at it another way, which is a little more sinister, like you’re writing for yourself… You’re out there getting time bonuses, you’re helping somebody else and Demi’s getting fourth. Fourth means equals zero in both of those scenarios”.
The tactics of the French team puzzle Armstrong who isn’t sure if FDJ will come to regret this decision, besides the decision to not attack Sarah Gigante on the descents where the Australian has been struggling. “I feel like I don’t think it’s a bad strategy to take the time bonuses and hope that somebody else comes around Kim Le Court and she gets fourth two times. If that happens, you look at that and you say, wow, those are perfect team tactics”.