USSEL, France — Charly Wegelius swings his legs down from the sofa at the back of the bus and addresses his fellow EF Education-EasyPost directeur sportifs.
“OK then,” he kicks off the meeting. “How are we going to win this?”
It is 9am in the car park of a budget hotel near the Dordogne town of Périgueux, five hours before the start of stage nine of the Tour de France. Today is the first clear opportunity for the breakaway — a discipline at which the American squad excel.
Last year, Irish rider Ben Healy exploited them to win stage six, claim the yellow jersey, and come within a bike length of winning on the legendary Mont Ventoux — and there are similar plans to gild the 2026 Tour in fluorescent pink.
To win a race at WorldTour level requires bravery, legs, and incredible attention to detail — and, as the race enters the baker’s oven of the Massif Central, EF invited The Athletic to witness how one of the sport’s top teams plan their tactics.
Ordinarily, Wegelius explains, this is a process that begins after the route is released the previous October, but as the team prepare to head to the start in Malemort, race organisers have forced them to readjust on the fly — shortening the stage by 30km due to a red-alert heatwave.
“Imagine if they told Jose Mourinho, just before the start, that they’re going to change the shape of the pitch,” he jokes, semi-seriously, as he painstakingly adjusts the kilometre markers on VeloViewer, the mapping software used by the entirety of the peloton.
EF loosely categorise days based on their perceived level of opportunity — which, with their current team make-up, includes cutting out sprint and general classification (GC) stages — prioritising nine over the course of this year’s race. But each Tour is unique and fragile; its particulars, as proved ahead of stage nine, are written in vanishing ink. Though lengthy prior research will be done on VeloViewer by rewatching races over similar finishes, the most important work has to take place immediately before the start.
“There’s a conception that we have all our data and planning and that everything is in boxes long before the start,” says Wegelius. “But we can’t know how other teams are going to be managed until after the startlists are released — and until the race itself unfolds. Our most important planning happens between us on the bus each morning.”
“It’s what we’re going to do and where we’re going to do it,” adds fellow DS Tom Southam. “How we can adapt our race to things other teams are doing — and what we want to make clear amongst ourselves.”
Sometimes, these meetings can take just five minutes — if it is a stage where EF have no interest in the win, or if the race plan is so clear that the DS team instantly agree. At this Tour, EF have sometimes held this meeting as part of a morning walk, though temperatures have been so warm that the air-conditioned sofa area at the rear of the bus has often been their first choice.
The heat, as they are eventually able to animatedly discuss, has made a real impact on the shape of the race as well as its difficulty — moving the intermediate sprint forward so it takes place after just 14km, significantly affecting the likely formation of the day’s breakaway. The conversation resembles a wargame exercise — running through several potential scenarios, and EF’s likely reaction, as they hone in on the rival Lidl-Trek team, riding for Mads Pedersen’s green jersey, as the key to the stage.
EF’s Ben Healy won stage six of the 2025 Tour from a breakaway — his team were hoping for a similar result on Sunday (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)
“There are four people in the green jersey race now,” states German DS Andreas Klier, the final member of the EF trio. “They’re very close to each other, ultra close, so that will have an influence. So (Pedersen’s teammates) Mathias Vacek and Quinn Simmons will drill it towards the top (of the first climb) for the sprint and keep on riding.
“So the break could be 20 or so riders — and the problem is that Lidl-Trek are so strong that even if our rider, like Richie (the team’s best climber Richard Carapaz) gains 50 seconds on an ascent, they can easily bring it back; 50 seconds is nothing for them.”
Wegelius and Southam agree. “The ones who are going to move the race are Lidl-Trek,” says Wegelius. “So if that happens, who could fix it if they weren’t happy (with the make-up of the break)?”
They begin to plan, running through teams who may prosper if the peloton finishes together, producing a likely reduced bunch sprint. Several are ruled out.
“I’d be pretty confident if a break goes, and Lidl aren’t in it, then we can chill,” says Wegelius, suggesting that the German team would be likely to work to bring the race back together. “I don’t see many other teams to resolve that situation.”
“It’s a fact,” summarises Klier. “If Lidl isn’t in the group, it won’t go to the line — it’s simple and there for everyone to read.”
That conclusion, thrashed out over 15 minutes, is one piece of data that can inform their plan. The next step is to discuss which riders might target the stage — though EF’s squad are all strong breakaway riders, they possess different characteristics, such as northern classics specialist Kasper Asgreen and pure climber Carapaz.
Wegelius explains that Healy, possibly the team’s best all-round breakaway rider, has been slightly nervous about the heat of the day.
“I said: ‘Join the f***ing club,” Wegelius recalls. “I told him that we had a good team who can carry some of the weight for him — he doesn’t need to do all of it on his own. He was talking about stage five, where the key moves were splits rather than breaks — that it’s so hot that it just snaps. So the best thing for him to do is to be placed in the right part of the bubble without jumping — to risk (not making the break) so he doesn’t overheat his engine.
“I think the real way to win is by being someone who handles the heat better than everybody, and then your whole characteristics as a rider don’t count as much any more.”
“I think the longer we talk, the more it looks as if this stage is more (Michael) Valgren, Asgreen, (Georg) Steinhauser than Richie and Ben Healy,” concludes Klier. “Even if they drop many people on the second category climb, it’ll be difficult for them to manage to get to the finish.”
They decide that the best way to approach the chaos of the day’s break formation is to keep attacking in numbers — all eight of the team attempting to make the front group — but getting that far is only the first part of the day’s battle.
“We have to tell our guys that they can only win if they can split (the Lidl riders),” says Klier, addressing lead car driver Southam. “They have to listen to you and not overcook themselves — and not attack on a hard part, but attack where people are daydreaming, where the kilometres just drift away. Then they come from behind and go.”
Southam has already pored over the route on VeloViewer and found several spots where his riders could jump — with slight downhills and sites where the road thins particularly favoured.
‘Let’s go guys, come on, this is finished, this is done,” says Klier. “Let’s just tell them to be f***ing ready for the first six kilometres.”
A cycling squad’s team meeting is the inner sanctum of their race day. It is here that the day’s final instructions are imparted to the riders, typically taking place as soon as the bus arrives at the startline. Then, the next hour belongs to the riders, for warm-ups, getting changed, signing on at the start and beginning to race.
“We talk a lot (between ourselves) in the morning, but what we share with the riders is super simple,” says Wegelius. “We take information, take out what’s useful and condense it to make it as simple as possible.”
The EF riders listen to their pre-race briefing (Jacob Whitehead/The Athletic)
It is quiet on the bus as EF arrive in Malemort, a suburb of Brive, ahead of the now 155km stage to Ussel. With over 3000m of climbing, plus a temperature of 37°C (98°F) at the start, the next four hours will be attritional and painful, a journey to the edge of their body’s capacities before Monday’s rest day. Some riders check training apps, other send final messages, but all eight spin their chairs as Wegelius stands at the front of the bus, Southam leaning on the railing to his side.
Aside from a few brief maps of key sections of the course, such as the parcours of the closing 20 kilometres, there are just five instructions on Wegelius’ presentation:
- Everybody tries to go in
- Ben (Healy) needs to manage heat
- Lidl is the reference
- Go with Lidl in the finale
- Split their numbers
“This is not going to be easy and it’s not supposed to be,” Wegelius begins. “You can’t get success at this level without it being that way. But we need everybody in to do this all together: to spread one win amongst eight.”
Their instructions are clear. “We go, one, two, three, four, until we get to eight and back again,” Wegelius says, drumming the back of his hand into his other palm. “One, two, three, four. We’re not being picky about who goes in; every time you cover something that may not work out for you, you save something for someone else.
“The best chances to anticipate are at 128km (remaining) and 98km. Depending on what kind of rider you are, you need to anticipate — you’ve got to be the hardest rider. There’ll be 100 riders going for this, but Lidl, Uno-X, and you guys are the best in the world at doing it. You’ve done it before and you can do it again.”
After Healy’s unique role is explained, he then turns to other individual riders. “Georg (Steinhauser), you need a race where no one else can keep going but you can, and that can be today. Once you wait and go aero, nobody’s going to catch you. Michael (Valgren), there’s a reason you were with Sean (Quinn) over the Col d’Aspin (on stage six), because you’re f***ing quick.
“You guys are f***ing ready, and you’ve shown that every step of the way. Remember what we said in Barcelona: that the team comes first. That’s how we’re going to do it.”
It is then the riders’ turn to ask questions. American climber Sean Quinn, who was just 20 seconds off wearing yellow earlier in the race, asks about whether it is an option to wait for some tiny hilly roads between kilometres 40 and 70 of the day’s stage. Healy, meanwhile, queries how they can split the Lidl-Trek riders should they make the break. “It’s easier said than done,” he points out. They discuss several options, from ambush points to the potential desperation of Lidl-Trek’s Quinn Simmons to win his first-ever Grand Tour stage.
“Look,” says Klier, drawing the meeting to a close. “You guys are so good that you don’t have to fear any climb, any profile, or any rider. We all know that a few riders are faster (in a sprint finish) who might be in the same group as you. But there’s no reason to fear anything with the legs you guys have.
“Imagine the other buses, imagine what tactical discussions they’re having. Because the meeting Charlie held this morning is about winning, not just a good performance. And his mindset is the right one: how do we actually f***ing win, and it’s true, we can win, but we can only win if we anticipate.”
Stage nine’s route had been shortened but was still hot and hectic (Jacob Whitehead/The Athletic)
After a 15-minute roll-out in the neutral zone, the race begins in earnest at 2pm on the drop of the flag. Lidl-Trek immediately surge to the front, looking to control the race so Pedersen can earn green jersey points by winning the intermediate sprint. Despite a late challenge from Biniam Girmay, the Dane ultimately takes them comfortably — and then the chaos begins.
Steinhauser has the first dig for EF, attempting to bridge from the peloton to the leading three riders. The effort, up a long false flat, is sustained and brutal — and after being caught by the peloton, he is spat out its back after just 15km. It is a brutal reminder of the level on display.
With two ‘race cars’ on the road who are able to interact with riders, as well as team radios, it might seem that EF’s staff have the ability to dictate the race strategy from the front seat — but the reality is rather different.
“We can’t remote control drive the riders at all,” Wegelius explains. “The images are delayed and there are cars (from officials and other teams) everywhere. Our rule is that we don’t give them information for things that they can see better than you — racing is complicated enough, so you want to filter everything else out.”
In turn, following instructions but racing on their own instinct, EF’s pink jerseys dart out the peloton, either chasing breaks or forging ahead themselves. Valgren attacks approaching the spot at 128km to go, but is quickly brought back.
A few kilometres later, a handful of Tudor Cycling riders almost escape before being caught by the peloton, with several EF riders near the front, which puts Pedersen and Uno-X’s Danish champion Magnus Cort in trouble. Cort drops, while Pedersen grimly clings on.
Carapaz then attacks for EF with exactly 100km remaining, before he is counter-attacked by Lidl-Trek’s uber-aggressive Simmons — which eventually sparks the decisive move. Twelve riders get away up the road, including Lidl-Trek’s Canadian all-rounder Derek Gee-West, Uno-X’s Tobias Halland Johannessen, and eight-time Monument winner Mathieu van der Poel.
Carapaz on the attack, early in stage nine (Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Crucially, the group is completed by EF’s French climber Alex Baudin — the 25-year-old entering the Tour in superb form after winning the opening stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (the renamed Critérium du Dauphiné).
“I knew I had to play on my terrain, so I waited to climb,” adds Baudin. “But if I try on the flat, I’m just going nowhere. I’m not good enough on the flats. So yeah, big fight for the break. And with this heat, it was super hard to recover from an effort like that to go.”
Simmons and Johannessen attack once again with 80km remaining — but after British rider Tom Pidcock impressively bridges the gap from the peloton to the chasers, Baudin joins him to in turn kick across to the leading group, along with Gee-West, Van der Poel, and Movistar’s Pablo Castrillo.
This group began to work well together, splitting turns and gaining time on the peloton — though behind, UAE Team Emirates begin to raise the pace, potentially looking for a stage win for yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar or his young lieutenant Isaac del Toro. The intensity of their chase, soon joined by Netcompany INEOS, is a surprise, with the presumption having been that Pogacar’s team would have been happy to rest their legs ahead of the rest day after a hard week in the Pyrenees. Instead, they chase relentlessly through the late afternoon heat.
“(Originally), Alex had the (team) car there; we had a good opportunity to go and give him ice and water,” adds Southam. “We just kept refreshing him every 10-15 minutes just to make sure he had hydration — but then (race officials) pulled us out because the gap (to the main peloton) got too small.”
“On stages like this, it’s made for the breakaway,” Baudin said afterwards. “And if the GC teams start to control these stages, we don’t watch TV anymore. At what price? Where do we have to go? We had to fight all day long.”
The fight to get in the breakaway consumed almost every team in Sunday’s stage (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)
With the breakaway forced to race full gas towards the line, it was unsurprising that Van der Poel, who possesses possibly the largest engine in the peloton on stages such as these, attacked over the 900m-long Mont Bessou with 25km remaining.
Baudin, just about, holds on to form a final quartet with Pidcock, Johannessen, and Van der Poel. The issue, despite his ride’s bravery, was that there were no climbs remaining — and Baudin knew he was probably the weakest sprinter of the final four.
“I thought that break was going to get much more time and it would have been a tactical scenario,” Southam says. “In the end, it was so close; it just meant there were no tactics in the final. I was looking for places for Alex to go to jump — to maybe play on the Pidcock-Van der Poel rivalry, but we just couldn’t do anything because it’s just jammed.”
“We were looking for spots,” adds Wegelius. “There were some traffic islands with 1.5km to go where one rider could maybe go on one side, because he had to get away from them — but obviously they all had to push right to the line, because everybody’s just throwing everything they have at it.”
On the uphill drag to the line in Ussel, Van der Poel powers away in the final 200m to win his third Tour stage, just an hour’s drive from the birthplace of his grandfather, the legendary Raymond Poulidor. Baudin, meanwhile, stands and sprints but cannot do better than fourth.
As Baudin freewheels towards the bus, exhaling through his cheeks and seemingly having lost full control of his legs, EF’s team surround the Frenchman and congratulates the rider on a brave effort. The prevailing view is that, given the circumstances, it was difficult to see an alternative strategy that would have won the race — given the make-up of the breakaway, including the best pure classics rider of his generation, and the UAE-INEOS chase.
Wonder why UAE was pulling so hard today? Alex explains pic.twitter.com/7M92pe9NMC
— EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 12, 2026
Wegelius sits on a small ledge underneath a border hedge, trying to find some shade. Tuesday’s stage 10, coming after a rest day, is another day he has circled.
“You have to separate the outcome from what you’ve done and how you’ve done it,” he says. “If you do things right, and you find someone who’s stronger than you, or a situation that’s out of your control, so be it.
“But our job here is to come and wake up every morning and do the things that we’ve promised ourselves as a group that we’re going to do, and we did that, and we’ve done it every day that we’ve put an X on the calendar until now. The system to get a result is just to keep doing that.
“By the time we get to Paris, that might mean two stage wins, it might mean zero, but that’s the way it is.”
