After causing chaos north of the Col du Galibier on Wednesday, Jumbo-Visma set about the task of bringing order as the Tour de France returned over the other side of the pass on stage 12 to the Alpe d'Huez.

The day before, Jumbo-Visma threw out the standard playbook and came up with a "Philly Special," cycling's version of a Super Bowl victory, as he tackled the difficult problem of how to make things difficult for Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

Having succeeded in their ambitious mission to put Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow jersey, the team opted for a more conservative approach to protect his lead on the road to Alpe d'Huez. The yellow and black jerseys converged on the front line and imposed a tempo that was akin to playing soccer repeatedly, as in cycling

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The tactics were blatant, but effective. In particular, Sepp Kuss's pacemaking helped to shrink the yellow jersey group, which included Romain Bardet (DSM), and Pogachar accelerated defiantly near the top, but Vingegaard was completely unperturbed. The supersonic speed he showed in the Col de Granon was again defended here in yellow.

Vingegaard finished the stage with Pogachar, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), and teammate Kuss. In the overall standings, the Dane is 2:22 behind rival Pogachar and Thomas is in third place, 2:26 behind.

"After yesterday, I wanted to be more straightforward today, but also look for opportunities if I felt vulnerable," Kuss said at the summit of Alpe d'Huez.

"On the final climb, I kept the status quo and created a rhythm that made it harder to attack."

As the yellow jersey group approached the lower slopes of the Alpe d'Huez, Vingegaard had no less than four teammates with him. In fact, given the hardships Jumbo-Visma had imposed on the race 24 hours earlier, there may not have been much need to dissuade them.

"The team was riding very strongly and the breakaway group was fine," said Jambovisma. We went a little harder on the Croix de Fer, and we still had the whole team left in the Alpe d'Huez." In the Alpe d'Huez we still had the whole team left."

While Kuss stayed more or less close to the Vinge goal until the finish, Kluisweig finished his stint further down the mountain and went down. When stopped by reporters just past the finish line, Kruisweijk was informed that his teammate had survived Pogachar's blow in the finale.

"I don't know about Pogachar, so it was good to hear that," Kruiswijk said. 'I'm really happy Jonas came up that high. I'm really happy for Jonas to come up there, to protect the advantage he has in GC and, if possible, to extend it even further."

Jumbo-Visma moved aggressively at the head of the peloton on the first climb of the Galibier, but the idea of testing Pogachar's recovery early and hard was probably secondary to the immediate task of policing the early break. Later in the day, when the day's moves materialized, Jumbo-Visma quickly decided to give him enough room to compete for the stage win.

"We talked about going for it, but halfway through we decided to concentrate on GC and not make any special effort to get the break back," Kruijswijk said.

The decision was perhaps a relief for Roglic, who confessed to reporters that he was still feeling the effects of his crash on the cobbles in the opening week. The accident left Roglic with a dislocated shoulder that he had to push back on his own.

On stage 11, when Jumbo Visma made a major attack on the Galibier, Roglic selflessly served and shipped 11 more minutes by the end of the day. At Alpes d'Huez, he did what he could for Vingegaard. This was not the tool he signed up for, but that's how it works.

"Not really, I'm still fighting to survive," Roglic replied when asked if he was recovering from his previous ordeal.

"I'm taking it one day at a time.

It was a more positive afternoon for the team's other galactico, Van Aert. The Belgian, who holds a commanding lead in the points standings after two stage wins in the opening week, was Vingegaard's most effective pacemaker in the Alpe d'Huez.

"It was another super good team effort. Probably more defensive than yesterday, but also hard," Van Aert said. He gave his all for the Vinge goal, but quietly emphasized that Jumbo Visma had other goals in this Tour besides carrying the yellow jersey to Paris. Our priority is to make sure we leave both jerseys on the team."

While Van Aert should have the freedom to score points on his way to Saint-Etienne on Friday, Vingegaard's maillot jaune must be the sole focus of the team when it enters Massif-Saint-Lar on the undulating road to Mende a day later.

In 2020, Jumbo-Visma controlled the Tour for nearly three weeks, as it did on Thursday, but lost the race to Pogachar at the last minute; two years later, Vingegaard's buffer is bigger than Roglic's at that Tour, but Pogachar's acceleration in the Alps It was a warning. He is not gone yet.

"I expect to be shelled more in the Pyrenees," admitted Vingegaard's teammate Tiesj Benoot. But to get through today was a very important day as well." Nine more to go