"Jonas Vingegaard should never have won a Tour, given the difference in class to Tadej Pogacar" - Jose de Cauwer's harsh assessment of Visma leader
Cycling
Over recent years, the showdowns between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar have defined the Tour de France every summer. In terms of years they've gone head-to-head, both have taken two victories over the other, but according to Belgian cycling expert Jose de Cauwer, the Visma leader can count himself lucky at this.
Evaluating the potential of his compatriot Remco Evenepoel to take the Maillot Jaune in the coming years for Het Nieuwsblad, De Cauwer throws some shade at Vingegaard. "As long as Pogacar maintains this level, there will remain a clear difference," the Belgian analyst begins his assessment. "I really don't dare say that Remco will never win the Tour. In terms of talent, I certainly don't rate Vingegaard higher than Evenepoel. Actually, Vingegaard should never have won a Tour, given the difference in class to Pogacar."
More than a criticism of either Vingegaard or Evenepoel though, De Cauwer insists his comments are more of a big piece of praise to Pogacar. "He can steer incredibly. I saw something of him in Lombardy. He rides through everything with elegance," he explains, noting how Pogacar's bike-handling differs from some of the other notable talents in modern history. "That is different from Peter Sagan. He also rode among them, but you watched him with clenched buttocks. Pogacar is one of the best pilots in the peloton, together with Mathieu van der Poel."
After taking the disappointment of losing his Maillot Jaune back to Pogacar in 2024, Vingegaard is set to focus intently on regaining the most iconic jersey in all of professional cycling in 2025. Given the record breaking and all conquering season that the Slovenian had last year though, if the Dane could complete the comeback in France this summer, it would arguably go down in Tour de France history as one of the most impressive victories of all time.
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- What a dumb comment! Of course Wout would be more popular in Belgium...he's from Belgium ! Sheesh!frieders305-01-2025
- Depends, the guy is known for it, some let him others clearly tell him where to stick it. You didn’t watch it did you? I’m sure in some cases he kind of asks and why should a rider mind someone riding behind during normal rides, it’s kind of the norm in this sport. On the other hand, if you’re busy concentrating on a specific training session, obviously anything is going to distract you and the guy has to respect that. Yes, he’s kind of tacky but no worse than any paparazzi, and he has made this his “profession” it seems. Like you say, no class at all.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- And haven’t we kind of forgotten, a certain WVA, no-one is analysing what he could add to the sauce.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- Yes, you have to respect him for a few things and call him out on others. He obviously didn’t see the need to progress over the years from his comment on “normal” men, had he said an old-fashioned 70y old it would have gone down positively.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- Everyone on Armstrong's team doped. It was a prerequisite for joining and getting the big money.Sweep04-01-2025
- Happy for him he can see he’s still got it after all those difficulties.Mistermaumau04-01-2025
- He telling the truth, he is outspoken, like him or not he's brought a lot to cycling.awp04-01-2025
- Nice!awp04-01-2025
- He could potentially win the Giro again, although if Jonas races the Giro he would have to have sickness or a bad crash to let Primoz pass him, but the Tour is out of his sights, he missed his chance in 2020. Too much top competition at the Tour, but he could possibly score a top five but more realistically a top ten at his age.awp04-01-2025
- a hello and selfie is fine, but 19 mins of filmed stalking, seriously?? absolutely ridiculous. no class. training is part of their jobs, leave them be. stop turning them against the fans. effing idiot.BalberdoBonkador04-01-2025