“I saw a broken man today" - Bradley Wiggins claims Jonas Vingegaard may abandon Tour de France after Tourmalet defeat
CyclingFriday, 10 July 2026 at 16:31
The Tour de France is wide open with only six stages completed, featuring a Grand Depart with three consecutive days for the overall classification contenders and this Thursday a mammoth mountain stage in the Pyrenees. After being defeated by Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard might consider pulling out of the Tour, according to Bradley Wiggins.
Wiggins argues Vingegaard may leave Tour de France
The winner of the 2012 edition has been part of The Move podcast during the ongoing Grand Boucle and has shared his opinion amongst the likes of Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie. As a former winner, the Briton has a lot of experience when it comes to the preparation, efforts and detail-oriented mindset that is required to fight for the race.
On stage 6, UAE Team Emirates - XRG decimated the field on the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, where Tadej Pogacar attacked to victory. Whilst the gap at the top to Vingegaard at the summit was of around 30 seconds, this multiplied several times on the descent and final climb to Gavarnie later on.
Vingegaard finished second on the day, still holding off the chasing group of Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, and others; but the gap at the finish was 2:38 minutes to the Slovenian - who is now back in the yellow jersey.
A difficult gap to cut, and a deja vu to the past two editions of the Tour, where Pogacar had a firm hold of the race when the mountains arrived.
Jonas Vingegaard crossing the finish line in Gavarnie with his head down was a striking image
“I saw a broken man today,” Wiggins argued on The Move. “In recent years, whenever he has been second, he has remained positive and said he would keep putting pressure on Pogacar all the way to Paris.”
That continues being the case, but hopes of overturning the race lead of Pogacar are dim, despite the early moment of the race. The presence of a peak form Isaac del Toro supporting Pogacar also helps UAE's case.
However Wiggins took his argument to an extreme level. “But how many years can you keep doing that? How many years do you want to finish second? After seeing him today, I have a feeling he may not finish the race," the Briton argued.
"It is a wild thing to say, but we are here to give our opinions.”
Read also
Is Vingegaard Tadej Pogacar's only rival?
At the time being, the leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike was Pogacar's closest rival on the hilltop finish to Les Angles and on the Tourmalet, establishing the expected hierarchy in the fight for the yellow jersey.
As the race moves forward, it is possible to see Vingegaard's form improve, as he came straight from the Giro d'Italia.
However, Pogacar might be his own biggest rival - as has happened in previous editions - whilst we may see external factors such as the extreme heat potentially having a bigger influence in the overall classification as the race moves forward. It increases chances of a bad day or a collapse, which seems to be the only way in which Pogacar will get dethroned until Paris.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- Ok notedslappers6610-07-2026
- I think Tadej turns boring stages into GC firework. Compare this to Chris Froome era where nothing happens until big mountain stages, we get to see firework even on punchy stages. I doubt a more conservative generation of GC riders will turn stage 6 into firework. They don't attack from that far on GT and the last climb won't make a big gap on GC.
KerisVroom10-07-2026 - Good Point! Maybe A.S.O. should make the stages different..only putting the High Montains (queen stages) in last week or so? They did change Green Jersey points this year because of POGI almost winning last year, so they are making adjustements.... Its a Tough Topic this one... It was cool they made some kind of a pool to know the fans opinio. Are we divided in this?Alexcavalera10-07-2026
- If I may gently remind you, Javier Ares is Spanish. Spanish only care for GC
Rafionain-Glas10-07-2026 - Tom, either say something or say nothing. Why naïve if there’s nothing worth thinking through? Why a comparison to Messi which is about skill and not performances Even if Tadej is unlikely to be a protagonist in unfairness, I certainly do not trust his entourage as much. Doping in whatever form is a technical definition, many other unfair advantages cannot be classified as such and would be impossible to prove without being mistakenly revealed. I do not want to list any for fear of giving ideas (very little open discussion exists on potential methods) but having followed Mauro’s case in detail, I know how far some are willing to go, also to conceal what they want to hide.Jumpyjohn10-07-2026
- That's a bit of an extreme comment. He was tired and frustrated but looked fine at todays start. He was smiling and shook hands with Pogacar, Del Tora and Pederson at the start. Retire out of the tour? I doubt it. I can see him retiring completely soon though. He has won every grand tour and has nothing more to prove.Cyclingsbestfan10-07-2026
- Yes they did! It became monotonous and boring to watch and many comments were made on Indurains style of winning. Pogacars style is more dynamique. That said Pogacar potentially putting the race to bed so early has taken out a lot of the excitement for me. I would bet a lot of people feel the same.Cyclingsbestfan10-07-2026
- Agreed, don’t get the feeling Jonas is the type to give up. He may have been knackered but he recovers well too.Jumpyjohn10-07-2026
- Choose your words more carefully. For sure they are able, if the circumstances called for it they’d even be able to reel in the Pog. No lone rider is going to outrun a team time trialing. It’s the context that decided, 2 riders as saboteurs, 2 with zero interest in helping, one almost self-destructive and a few without a clear plan or incentive, that’s hardly a recipe for chasing. We saw a similar situation in spring when MVDP made the mistake of going with Pog on the climb instead of hanging back with the rest and working together to reel him in after the climb.Jumpyjohn10-07-2026
- Just because you used to be mentally insecure does not mean others are too , Wigansabstractengineer10-07-2026
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