"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.
This numpty mustn't have been paying attention in 2023 when Jonas won by over 7 minutes. Not exactly close.
I don’t get why so many need to “prove” that one is superior to the other, it is obvious that within margins and periodic fluctuations they are/were different but equal on TdF terrain. Any 2 riders sharing 4 wins in 4 years with just a few minutes after 80 hours can’t be so different that it’s worth making a fuss over unless it’s about something else. You may as well argue over the taste of caviar vs. fish roe, it makes zero difference which taste you prefer, especially if you’re the one eating. TP seems to have gained an advantage but it can also turn against him, JV is now the mysterious “underdog”, let’s enjoy the show if neither has mishaps, and watch out for the third man lurking behind.
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- Yawn! There were no ther top class sprinters there so he better have won! Let me know when he beats Jasper or Merlier or Milan!frieders309-04-2025
- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025