José de Cauwer: "Pogacar is still by far the best tour rider of this generation"

Tadej Pogacar is currently leading the UCI rankings and for good reason. Although he's been in display at the classics recently, most notably his Tour of Flanders win, the Slovenian is a leading figure in any stage-race he takes part in. Despite not having conquered the Tour de France last year, José de Cauwer has no doubt that the UAE Team Emirates rider continues to be the best Grand Tour rider in the peloton.

“I can enjoy when I see how well that team is put together. What they have built is very clever. Although that is partly thanks to the money," De Cauwer told Helden Magazine regarding Jumbo-Visma. "It is pretended that everything has been planned in advance, but they also had a lot of luck with last year's Tour victory. Pogacar's team had already been beheaded before the Tour start, while Pogacar himself saw his ideal preparation for the Tour disrupted by the sad death of his mother-in-law. That's not to mention the many mistakes Pogacar and his staff have made with his overacting, so he didn't use his powers carefully."

The Belgian commentator and analyst believes that Pogacar was not at his best during the Tour, and the Dutch team managed to grabbed the opportunity with both hands. "Vingegaard has seized the momentum. If someone can seize a moment, it is often due to someone else's mistake. If you really are the strongest, then you don't have to wait for your opponent's momentum, the weakness. In my opinion, Pogacar is still by far the best [grand] tour rider of this generation," he argues.

The two have battled it out recently at Paris-Nice where Pogacar dominated the race, and dealt a psychological blow to the Dane. Vingegaard has bounced back to win three stages and the overall classification at Itzulia Basque Country recently, however he now takes a break, focusing on the bigger goal of winning the Tour de France. Both riders will look to be at their best in the Grand Boucle, and throughout this spring they've taken very different routes with different goals.