The clearest signal that Decathlon's approach misfired in execution: Iván Romeo, riding in the bunch as it happened, admitted he didn't understand it either. «Decathlon kind of messed up the race. I don't know if the people watching at home understood it, but I certainly didn't either,» he told Eurosport. With numerical superiority, Decathlon's early throttle prevented other teams from joining the breakaway — a legitimate GC move — but the intensity surprised the whole peloton, Romeo included: «When you see a team that superior, I think it surprised us all.» The confusion didn't cost Pogačar a second.