Paul Magnier questioned Movistar's Giro d'Italia tactics after the team again surged on a late climb on stage 12, dropping the Frenchman and other big-name sprinters, but then failing to win the stage.
The Spanish team, with Director of Racing Matt White calling the tactics from the team car, aimed to win the stage but also showed their new, more aggressive way of racing.
They took a similar tactic on stage 4 to Cosenza when they blew up the race on the Cozzo Tunno climb with 50km to go, and Orluis Aular was narrowly beaten by Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
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On stage 11, Enric Mas had already lost time and dropped down the GC standings, so he went on the attack to try to win in Chiavari but finished second to Narváez. The defeat only fired up Movistar even more.
"We went for a couple of stages early in the race, and then with Enric Mass out of the GC battle, it opens the book to a lot more attacks," White told Cyclingnews.
"We can go after certain stages a lot more now, and we can also go on the attack and in the breaks in the mountains, too. We lost Javier Romo today due to illness, but we'll keep attacking.
"We identified a few stages where selections like this one could be possible. Orluis Aular is fast, but he's not a pure sprinter. He prefers reduced sprints and can handle the fatigue and load of hard stages. This was a great chance for him, so we took it on."
Movistar massed on the front of the peloton on the Colle Giovo and then on the Bric Berton climbs as the Giro climbed away from the Ligurian coast into Piemonte.
Their painful pace cracked Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), then Magnier and eventually even Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-AlUla), Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Casper van Uden (Picnic-PostNL) were also blown to the wind, ending their chances of a sprint win.
It was a roll of the dice for Movistar, but it paid off when NSN began to ride with them for Ethan Vernon and Corbin Strong. EF Education-EasyPost also put riders on the front to give Madis Mihkels a chance in the sprint.
The big-name sprinters combined forces and tried to chase, reducing the gap to 50 seconds but eventually ran out of strength and teammates.
"We knew that if we didn't get help, it wouldn't have worked; that's something we can't control. But our intent was good; we did the damage," White said with pride.
"Then other teams came up and gave us a hand. It didn't work out, but it was worth a go."
Movistar derailed the sprinters' hopes, and in turn, Alec Segaert ended Movistar's hopes for a reduced sprint with his late solo attack.
White could only congratulate the talented young Belgian on his move, even if others pointed out his skills at chasing the slipstream of the television motorbike that hung ahead of him.
"It was perfect timing, he's a beast," White said of Segaert in admiration.
"He attacked on the outside of two corners and over the top of Visma, which was smart. Visma did not care about the sprint; they didn't even react. All they were doing was keeping Vingegaard safe and making sure that he got through the last corner safely.
"When you've got that five seconds, it's hard to pull a rider like him back, even if you have fresh riders, which no one in the front group really had today. Tactically, it was a great move from him. He and Bahrain must be happy, but we can be happy, too. Our time will come."
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