Here’s a bold statement: defeating Tadej Pogacar in his prime is becoming the cycling world’s ultimate puzzle, and no one has cracked it yet. But here’s where it gets controversial: could it be that even the most meticulous strategies fall short against his dominance? Team Visma | Lease a Bike certainly tried, and their efforts last year at the Tour de France were nothing short of extraordinary. Victor Campenaerts, a key player in this high-stakes game, recently shared insights that shed light on just how deep the team dug to find Pogacar’s weaknesses—if they even exist.
On the surface, the plan seemed straightforward: use team depth to position Jonas Vingegaard optimally and deploy riders in breakaways to control key moments. And this is the part most people miss: Visma didn’t stop there. Their performance team went beyond traditional tactics, meticulously analyzing Pogacar’s data throughout the race. They calculated his power outputs, estimated his functional threshold power (FTP), and even compared carbohydrate burn rates between him and Vingegaard. The goal? To push Pogacar into a deficit he couldn’t recover from.
Campenaerts put it bluntly in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad: “Last year, we made the race as hard as humanly possible, and Pogacar still won.” But it wasn’t for lack of trying. In the mountains, the Slovenian phenom showcased unparalleled strength, endurance, and recovery—all backed by a team that shielded him from both physical and psychological pressure. Visma’s data analysts dove deep, asking questions like: How much time did Vingegaard spend above his FTP compared to Pogacar? Could we have pushed Jonas harder than we pushed Tadej?
The math was done, and the tactics were aggressive—relentlessly so. Hilly stages, flat stages, every opportunity was exploited to create a crack in Pogacar’s armor. Yet, he never faltered. Not once. Visma’s reward? A hard-fought second place.
Campenaerts himself delivered a career-defining performance, excelling across all terrains and posting his best-ever climbing numbers. Beyond his physical contributions, he became a cornerstone of the team’s morale, sharing daily vlogs that kept spirits high. “If you’d shown me last year’s numbers early in my career, I wouldn’t have believed I could compete for a Grand Tour,” he admitted. “But the challenge is that riders like Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and Van der Poel keep raising the bar year after year.”
Here’s the controversial question: Is Pogacar simply unbeatable, or are teams like Visma missing something? Campenaerts hints at the latter, emphasizing that success in Grand Tours isn’t just about watts per kilo. It’s about execution under pressure, adaptability, and team dynamics. “In the Grand Tours, it’s about who can deliver when the team manager says, ‘Tomorrow, you’re leading the peloton until no one else is left standing,’” he explained.
Visma’s rider selection process reflects this philosophy. Raw numbers matter, but so does race performance, mental resilience, and team chemistry. “Some riders dominate in training but crumble under pressure,” Campenaerts noted. “Our performance team is exceptional at identifying who thrives in the heat of the moment and who might disrupt the team’s harmony.”
Looking ahead, Campenaerts will once again support Vingegaard in the 2026 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, a role he’s embraced with unmatched dedication. But the question remains: Can Visma finally solve the Pogacar puzzle? Or is he cycling’s ultimate enigma?
What do you think? Is Pogacar simply too dominant, or are teams like Visma overlooking a critical strategy? Let’s debate in the comments—this conversation is far from over.
