Despite 'all the noise', UAE Team L'IMAD's multi-leader approach working but Mont Ventoux could change everything at the Tour de France Femmes

Despite what Sports Director Cherie Pridham dubbed "all the pressure and all the noise" around some of their riders, UAE Team L'IMAD's much-discussed multi-leader approach at the Tour de France Femmes is working so far.

The team completed stage 6 with three riders in the overall top 10 – Elisa Longo Borghini (fourth), Dominika Włodarczyk (sixth) and Paula Blasi (10th) – after Longo Borghini climbed two spots with her attacking efforts into Tournon-sur-Rhône.

Only one other team has more than one rider in the top 10 - Canyon-SRAM with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Antonia Niedermaier – which means that, despite plenty of dissection in the media, things are going well for the team.

Longo Borghini may not have won the stage on Thursday, but she gained 28 seconds and two spots on GC after an active ride, with the team succeeding in executing the plan they've had all week.

"We knew it was going to be another hard day. We know we need to keep tapping away at every opportunity we can see," Pridham told Cyclingnews at the finish.

"Of course the result didn't play out the way we wanted. There was a little bit of strange tactics from the riders that maybe were not helping as much, or could benefit more from the time, but Elisa has gained some seconds. The podium is still a long way away, but tomorrow is a different kettle of fish."

With Longo Borghini now in fourth overall, and three tough stages still to go – including that very different 'kettle of fish', Mont Ventoux on Friday – a spot on the podium is certainly within reach, and Pridham seemed confident that fourth or higher could be a goal for the team.

"I mean we've got to be realistic. Kasia and Demi are just super strong this year, as is the yellow jersey Reusser. We'll do all we can as far as the team is concerned. The team is strong. Considering all the pressure and all the noise around our young rider Paula Blasi, I think the girls are managing really well," she said.

On the bike, the results spoke for themselves and the riders certainly were managing well, and they hadn't shied away from standing up for themselves in the media, either, forthrightly fending off speculations of tension between the riders.

Speculation around Vuelta winner Blasi's future – she is widely understood to be leaving the team – had only fuelled the fire, with it perfectly likely that UAE did not give leadership to a rider who is leaving, but plenty of fans and commentators excited about the up-and-coming rider's future.

Longo Borghini spoke openly to Cyclingnews after the time trial on stage 4, saying that the media were "making it up so big, bigger than it is. We are fine".

"Sometimes you should also think that we are persons. It is not nice to scroll through Instagram and see all those stupid articles saying that we do not have a good atmosphere and portraying us as though we are not a team. It hurts us. Personally, I’m hurt," she said.

Włordarczyk echoed Longo Borghini's feelings, batting away any assertions that there was a lack of teamwork or unity in the squad.

"We are riding like this since the beginning of the Tour. It's the journalists who are really trying to make a drama around us," she said to SBS Sport. "It's really not helping at all. It's just hurting."

Why having multiple leaders is working

The frustration with how the narrative and speculation have spread in the media was definitely worsened by the fact that, so far, things have gone well on the road.

Well, one clear reason was that outside of the three spotlighted riders, the teammates they have working for them are also extremely strong. It was perhaps the strongest team line-up in the race with past stage winners Mavi Garcia and Maeva Squiban as well as the ever-consistent Silvia Persico.

It's the work that these riders do, often in the parts of the stage that we can't see, that means the team can still have three main riders left in the finale.

Whereas other teams may have to burn through more of their line-up to set up their leader for the final, UAE seemed to be able to rely on only two or three riders to do that work early, leaving more ammunition in the favourites group for the finale.

Pridham explained a little bit about what that work was looking like, with the key points and protections perhaps not being where we would expect.

"It's about keeping the girls well positioned. Mavi – and to a degree Paula – is also keeping Dominika and Elisa safe in the wheels, and particularly on the descents," she said.

"On climbs like this [on stage 6] you can see that there can be massive splits [on the downhills]. It's very important to give them that information so that they can be in good positions on the descents, because they can all climb."

How to get to the podium?

The question, though, is what UAE Team L'IMAD will chase in the days to come. Longo Borghini, Włodarczyk and Blasi would each surely love to preserve their place in the top 10, but is that compatible with trying to put one of them on the podium? And is one rider on the podium more valuable than three riders in fourth to 10th?

To a team – especially one that doesn't need to worry about UCI points – surely third would be preferable, but it may not always be easy to convince other riders to give up their top 10 spot in pursuit of that goal.

Perhaps the fortunate thing for UAE is that Friday's stage to Mont Ventoux seems certain to shake things up on its own, without the team necessarily having to make a call. Whoever emerges strongest on the Bald Mountain will be able to take the GC benefits that come with it.

"You've got to look at the heat, and the start of the stage is not easy either, so we've got to make sure that we are in a good position as normal from the start, and the approach to Chalet Reynard is going to be really important," Pridham said about the team's approach to stage 7.

"Maybe we have to use some guns before there with Mavi maybe, if Persico is still there, and Maëva. I think we need to look tonight, maybe we send a satellite rider out front."

Asked if the climb is likely to be one where teammates can make a difference or an ascent where it's every rider for themselves, Pridham agreed with the latter.

"It kind of is. I think there's going to be 10 riders maybe by the time we come to the shoot-out," she said. "From the bottom to Chalet Reynard is vicious in itself, and then you get to the open moonscape of the Mont Ventoux. We need to see the wind as well, I think the wind is going to play a huge aspect tomorrow.

Those hoping that UAE may come out with a statement of leadership or announce their strategy and aim before the weekend will be disappointed. Their plan is, and always has been, to 'let the road speak', to use their refrain, and indeed to take things step by step, rather than dictating a plan prematurely. And that reactive approach may last until the very end.

"We don't stop until Nice. There's a lot to gain. Stage 8 may look flat, and it is flat, but the final 20k's is tasty," Pridham said, pointing to the fact that the GC riders have been getting involved practically every day anyway.

"We go step by step, we've always said kilometre by kilometre, metre by metre, and we keep that philosophy."

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