"He races too little - what is he paid all year for?" - Roger De Vlaeminck criticizes Jonas Vingegaard
Cycling
In the Criterium du Dauphiné, the superiority of Tadej Pogacar over Jonas Vingegaard is being tremendous. The Slovenian has defeated his Danish counterpart in two summit finishes in a row and, with one stage to go, is more than 1 minute ahead of him in the general classification.
For Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike, this situation is far from ideal. With the Tour de France just around the corner, the feeling was only really good in the time trial, but it didn't help much.
Perhaps Jonas Vingegaard is suffering from riding so few races. This is something the Dane has often been criticized for in recent years. Now, with the Tour approaching and with what we saw in Dauphiné, legends Eddy Merckx and Roger de Vlaeminck have been the latest to point it out.
Vingegaard can't beat Pogacar in Dauphiné
"Jonas Vingegaard races very little. And at the Paris-Nice at the beginning of the year he didn't make a good impression on me," Merckx began by pointing out. "It's true that Vingegaard is a good stage racer, but he doesn't race - what is he paid all year for?" added De Vlaeminck forcefully.
Pogacar already superior to Merckx?
It was through Het Nieuwsblad where the two iconic cycling figures had this conversation, where they also talked about the figure of Tadej Pogacar. Although the Slovenian is making history every time he races, De Vlaeminck wanted to make it clear that he still has a long way to go to surpass Eddy Merckx, if ever:
"Today, everybody talks about Tadej Pogacar. But when I watch the races, there is no one like Eddy, not even half, not even Pogacar. Maybe I exaggerate a little bit, but not much," stated Roger De Vlaeminck.
Barring a memorable comeback by Jonas Vingegaard on stage 8, Tadej Pogacar will win his first Criterium du Dauphiné and will continue to add to his already historic list of victories at the age of 26.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- That's an excellent point. It's interesting that Vader came to that realization only after he learned that his contract wasn't going to be renewed.
santiagobenites14-11-2026 - Indeed! A reluctant gift maybe. Even more reluctant gift from Roglic! Tho I can’t see that Rog would have beaten Ving anyway.Lozza14-11-2026
- That really nasty crash in 2022 Liege must have played a big part - broken ribs, pneumothorax. You only have to look at his points tallies pre and post.Lozza14-11-2026
- Yeah, good luck getting tv and race organisers like ASO etc to part with their cash!Lozza14-11-2026
- 36 and Ineos have bought a rider on the downward slope. Bring back Dave and Rob who could manage the team. How are Ineos going to win a grand tour with people past their sell by date.paultryan200214-11-2026
- Mmmm would he be making these comments when he was on the richest team when riding. I think not i suspect. If we want money put into the sport we need sponsors who are prepared to put the money in. No disrespect but his team are 2nd or 3rd div in football terms with riders over the hill or 2nd string riders. If i was a sponsor i would be looking at what publicity am i getting back and Tudor really are just making up the numbers really.paultryan200214-11-2026
- I see (elsewhere) that Alaphilippe had more to say than what got relayed in this stub. Me: he was very good early but his latter third trajectory was the pits. His old boss did what he could (huffed and puffed) but Julian couldn't get his greatness back. Sometimes I wonder if crashes that didn't look like much changed the course of the rider.flyer14-11-2026
- I wouldn't classify it as a gift because the nasty consequences of taking it from Sepp would have been great and would persist and he knew it.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. Tratnik's good and Red Bull's better so Tratnik may get what he wants.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. So just saying he wasn't enjoying racing anymore is some kind of explanation? Me saying I don't enjoy his explanation is more explaining than he did.flyer14-11-2026
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