Christian Prudhomme compares Tadej Pogacar & Jonas Vingegaard rivalry to that of Rafa Nadal & Roger Federer: "I really hope that both are in top form"
Cycling
After the metronomic Team Sky dominance of the 2010s, the Tour de France entered a new era in 2020 with the incredibly dramatic Maillot Jaune victory of Tadej Pogacar. In the four editions since, the Slovenian's iconic rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard has lit up the sport every summer, forging a place in the annals of cycling history.
In the four Tours de France both Pogacar and Vingegaard have faced off, it is two victories for the UAE Team Emirates leader and two for the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star, with neither having finished lower than 2nd in any of the four editions. According to the boss of the Tour de France, race director Christian Prudhomme, the rivalry of Pogacar and Vingegaard can best be compared to one of the all-time great duals in tennis, Rafa Nadal vs Roger Federer.
Asked by Bici Pro if Pogacar's 2024 dominance causes concern for the future intrigue of the sport, Prudhomme answers, using Nadal and Federer as a metaphor. "You ask me this question at a time when we are mourning the farewell of a champion like Rafael Nadal and the matches that have taken place over the years between him and Federer," he explains. "When Pogacar won the Laval time trial in the 2021 Tour, everyone was convinced that he would win 6, 7, 8 in a row."
As we've seen though, that wasn't the case, with Vingegaard firing back to take two Maillot Jaune victories of his own. "In the following two years, however, Vingegaard arrived and the dominance seemed to be able to reverse. What I hope is that both protagonists are at the start of the Tour de France without having to recover from a very serious fall," Prudhomme concludes, noting the bad luck both have suffered in preparation for recent editions. "In the last two years the imbalance has been caused by falls and injuries, which have affected both. So I really hope that both are in top form, and then we'll see."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024