Dumoulin questions Vingegaard’s tourmalet gear choice as Visma defend single chainring setup

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader finished second in Gavarnie-Gèdre on stage 6, yet he lost 2:38 to Tadej Pogačar, who produced a crushing solo display to win the stage and move back into the yellow jersey. 

Vingegaard was still only 30 seconds down at the top of the Col du Tourmalet, but by the bottom of the descent that gap had grown to just over a minute. The rest of the damage came on the long final climb to the finish. It was still enough for Vingegaard to admit that the descent had hurt him.

“I wasn’t even that far behind at the top of the Tourmalet, but in a descent like that, it’s not really to my advantage,” Vingegaard said after the finish. “It was clearly not the day I had hoped for, but that’s how it goes sometimes in racing.”

Speaking on De Avondetappe, Dumoulin, who was Vingegaard’s teammate at Jumbo-Visma from 2020 to 2022, first praised the Dane for facing the media so soon after such a difficult finish.

“It’s quite something to see,” Dumoulin said. “Straight after the finish, all the journalists were around him again. You can imagine that when you lose almost three minutes on day six of the Tour, in the first real mountain stage, the only thing you want to do is go straight to the team bus. But he didn’t do that. He really took the time.”

Yet Dumoulin, was struck by one detail in particular. Vingegaard had ridden the Tourmalet with a single chainring setup, meaning he had no front derailleur and no second chainring to switch between as the gradients, speed and terrain changed.

“What stood out most on the Tourmalet, where we briefly got a good look at it, was his equipment choice,” Dumoulin said. “He was riding up the Tourmalet on his big ring. You think, wow, on the big ring? But the point is that he only has one chainring.”

That kind of setup can make sense in certain races and on certain courses. It removes a front derailleur, saves a little weight and simplifies the drivetrain. On a stage with the Tourmalet, a long descent and a fast but shallow final climb, Dumoulin was not convinced.

“Jonas [Vingegaard] has specifically chosen a single chainring at the front,” Dumoulin explained. “That automatically means you only have eleven or twelve gears at the back to work with. So you have to manage that on the steepest climbs, but also in the fastest descents where you want to push a much bigger gear.”

The former Giro d’Italia winner argued that the downside is not just theoretical. On a long climb like the Tourmalet, rhythm matters. If the gaps between gears are too large, a rider can end up constantly searching for the right cadence without ever quite finding it.

“Honestly, it doesn’t seem like a very wise choice to me,” Dumoulin said. “If you are riding up the Tourmalet at 25 kilometres per hour and you feel you are just pushing a bit too heavy a gear, you want to be able to shift smoothly into the next one. But because you only have twelve in total, the steps between them are much too big. You can’t shift subtly. You immediately make a big jump and suddenly you’re riding a lot lighter. The result is that uphill you are often either slightly too light or slightly too heavy.”

Dumoulin also questioned the size of the reward. In his view, the weight saved by removing the second chainring and front shifting mechanism is too small to justify the potential compromises.

“And what is he doing all this for?” Dumoulin asked. “To save a tiny bit of weight compared to a double chainring. We might be talking about 40 or 50 grams. That’s hardly anything. Spray your bottle one time less and you’ve already saved that.”

There may also be an efficiency cost. With only one chainring at the front, the chain can run at a sharper angle in some gears, which can increase friction and waste energy.

“You also risk pure energy loss,” Dumoulin said. “Because the chain, without a second chainring, is more often at an angle, there is extra friction in the drivetrain. That is simply power loss. Not all the energy you put through the pedals reaches the rear wheel as effectively.”

Ultimately, Dumoulin felt Vingegaard’s setup created more problems than it solved.

“It remains a remarkable choice for one of the best riders in the world,” Dumoulin said. “Apparently he feels comfortable with it. One advantage, of course, is that the chain cannot come off at the front while shifting, because it is fixed on that one chainring. But whatever his exact reasoning was, the disadvantages of this system absolutely do not outweigh that minimal weight saving in my opinion.”

Visma sports director Marc Reef was asked about Dumoulin’s comments and insisted that the equipment choice was not a factor in the Dane’s time loss to Pogačar and that Dumoulin’s analysis did not match the team’s view of the situation. 

“No, he uses that setup on several climbs and in several stages. It certainly was not what made the difference,” Reef said.

Reef explained that the choice was based less on weight and more on the rider’s preferences and experience.

“We do not see it that way. We believe in this setup. It does save some weight, but it is mainly about what the rider can handle and what cadence he is comfortable with,” Reef said.

Vingegaard has used the setup for several years, and Reef indicated that the team had no concerns about continuing with it on demanding mountain stages such as the Tourmalet test.

“He has experience with it. He has been riding with it for years, and it is not something we will change for stages like this,” Reef added.

Asked whether Vingegaard had been disadvantaged by having fewer gearing options during the climb or descent, Reef was clear that the team did not believe the equipment had limited the two-time Tour de France winner.

“No, certainly not. It was definitely the right choice for this stage,” he said.