“For Tadej Pogacar, this is the worst possible scenario" - Tyler Hamilton claims 'balance has shifted' in Jonas Vingegaard's favour at 2025 Tour de France
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar has looked his typically supreme self so far at the 2025 Tour de France, expertly handling anything and everything thrown at him by Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard. In the opinion of American ex-pro Tyler Hamilton however, that balance might now have shifted.
The reason? The abandonment of João Almeida through injury on stage 9. “It’s undoubtedly shifted the balance of power. Losing Almeida is a huge, huge blow for UAE," analyses the now 54-year-old former Tour de France stage winner in his coverage of the 2025 edition for Danish media TV2. “With Almeida, I’d say the teams were fairly evenly matched. But now Visma have the advantage. It’s up to them to decide how to make use of that upper hand."
On stage 10 this Monday afternoon, the Tour de France heads into the high mountains for the first time. Hamilton believes Almeida will very quickly prove a big miss for the Maillot Jaune. "For Pogacar, this is the worst possible scenario — aside from crashing himself," he says. "He’s lost his right-hand man, and now there’ll be enormous pressure on Adam Yates. It’s a real shame for them, but that’s part of cycling. The balance has shifted.”
Hamilton also notes how Pogacar seemed a little down when discussion Almeida's exit to the media after stage 9. "I listened to Pogacar’s interview after the stage, and of course, he was very upset. Naturally, it’s a huge blow to lose Almeida," says Hamilton. "I could hear in his voice that he was really affected — it’s a serious setback for his team."
And as for stage 10, Hamilton predicts UAE Team Emirates - XRG will not look to control things as they maybe would have otherwise. “They might let a breakaway go and hand the jersey to someone they know they can reel back in during the high mountains. I could definitely see that happening,” the expert concludes.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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