After Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) crashed out of the Tour de France, his long-term rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was one of the first riders to react on the TV broadcast during his yellow jersey interview at the finish of stage 15.
Visibly dejected, the Slovenian declared how the race wouldn’t be the same without the two-time winner, who he now considers somewhat of a friend after an initially rockier start to their rivalry as the top GC riders of the current generation.
“Yeah, it’s really, really sad to see that Jonas is out. Since 2021, we were always battling out for the victory,” said Pogačar on the day.
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“Maybe at the beginning we didn’t have the best relationship, but in the last two years, we became good rivals, respected competitors, but I also think kind of friends, and the Tour will not be the same without him.”
At 11 days since crashing out with a broken collarbone, Vingegaard visited his home race, Tour of Denmark, speaking to media for the first time since returning home for surgery, where he confirmed that Pogačar had messaged him after the crash, and echoed that their rivalry had evolved over the years.
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“He wrote me a message. I was actually happy about that,” Vingegaard told Danish publication Feltet at the start of stage 2 in his hometown of Glyngøre. “I’m just happy that he thinks of me and thinks it’s cool how the rivalry has developed.
“At first it was maybe a little more – not hostile, but not so friendly in some way. It’s become a lot friendlier there in the last couple of years. I think that’s really cool. Sometimes we have a good chat. I think that’s nice.”
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Pogačar also posted a picture of the pair chatting in the yellow and polka-dot jerseys to his Instagram after Vingegaard abandoned, reiterating how “the Tour won’t be the same without you. Speedy recovery my friend,” with the post gaining more than 500,000 likes already.
Since 2021, they have occupied the top two spots overall at the Tour de France every year. Without Vingegaard’s rapid rise to the top, we would most likely be talking about Pogačar having just won his seventh Tour in a row instead.
Often spotted chatting at the start line of the 15 stages they raced together, it’s a respectful head-to-head that should continue into the next couple of seasons at least, with Vingegaard already saying how he’d like to get back to the Tour, and brushing off suggestions that he may retire in 2028 when his current Visma contract expires.
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Having beaten Pogačar twice in a row in 2022 and 2023, the balance at the Tour has swung back into the World Champion’s favour since 2024, with the next three titles, including that one, going the way of the now record-equal five-time winner.
While clearly still the second best performer on long climbs until he abandoned, Vingegaard lost a significant chunk of his time deficit this time due to a lack of punch, even admitting to Feltet that “we may have misunderstood the Tour a little this year”.
When he comes back to cycling’s biggest race, likely in 11 months’ time, Vingegaard should again be Pogačar’s main rival, and the best chance of preventing him from winning a sixth yellow jersey. But it’s a full recovery to form and a major improvement from where he was even before the collarbone fracture that he will need if he’s to wrest back control of the maillot jaune.
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