"If you hurt Pogacar, you're hurting everyone" - Former Giro winner believes Visma are stronger team than UAE ahead of 2025 Tour de France

We don't have long to wait now before the 2025 Tour de France and as such, plenty of notable names from yesteryear are being called to give their opinions and previews ahead of the Maillot Jaune battle. According to former Giro d'Italia winner Stefano Garzelli, it's Team Visma | Lease a Bike who have the strongest team.

Both Visma and main rivals UAE Team Emirates - XRG will start the Tour de France with a star studded super team. According to Garzelli though, whilst UAE are more individually brilliant, Visma can benefit from a stronger team faction.

"It’s an incredibly strong team — well organised on the flat with the likes of Wout van Aert, Edoardo Affini, Tiesj Benoot, and potentially Victor Campenaerts. They’re practically all team leaders in their own right," begins the Italian in conversation with Bici.Pro. "In the mountains, they’ve got Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Simon Yates, and Sepp Kuss."

In particular, Garzelli is looking for a big Tour de France performance by Simon Yates. "He was originally brought in to support Vingegaard at the Tour, but they bluffed everyone by putting him in the Giro, giving the impression he was targeting that. Now, riding the wave of that experience, I expect he’ll fly at the Tour — right when it matters. In the key mountain moments — not every day," he explains. "That makes a big difference in terms of energy, especially mental energy, for a rider of his calibre."

"I imagine they’ll try to keep Jorgenson in the GC mix. Van Aert is in good form — he found his rhythm again at the Giro. Riders like Affini, Campenaerts, and Benoot are solid on the flat. Visma is an outstanding squad," reiterates the 2000 Giro winner. "And in recent years, they’ve ironed out some of the issues that used to plague them."

As mentioned, UAE can also beast a super team of their own, although Garzelli isn't quite so convinced their as strong as Visma. "A hugely strong team — no doubt about it. But here, you do see a few domestiques, whereas with Visma it’s hard to spot one — they all look like leaders," says the 51-year-old. "Take Marc Soler, for example: at the Dauphiné, he was among the first to drop. I get the impression UAE still have some doubts about the final selection. And that’s fair — you can name a squad on paper, but if a rider isn’t delivering, for whatever reason, things change. Sivakov didn’t look brilliant either. That said, they’ve still got room to grow. I expect they’ll be watching the Tour de Suisse very closely."

"Let me try to predict the final line-up: Tadej Pogacar, Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, Joao Almeida, and Adam Yates are definite. I’d also include Jhonatan Narváez — that makes six," he continues. "I’m less convinced by Domen Novak, Marc Soler, and Pavel Sivakov. Personally, I’d bring Mikkel Bjerg — when he’s strong, he can hold his own on the climbs. And I’d also consider the young Swiss rider Jan Christen."

As for tactically, Garzelli believes Pogacar and UAE want as brutal a race as possible. "I imagine Tadej will says something like: 'Hurt me — because if you’re hurting me, you’re hurting everyone,'" analyses the seven-time Giro stage winner. "Pogacar has realised that explosive attacks right at the base of a climb are what put Vingegaard’s legs into trouble. That’s why he launches straight away."

"The others have seen this tactic now and will be training specifically to handle that kind of effort. But of course, if Pogacar improves too, what can you do? If someone’s pushing 480 watts for 20 minutes, how do you beat that?" Garzelli concludes. "Still, Vingegaard isn’t far off. I think he’s been holding something back — otherwise, he wouldn’t have produced that time trial performance."