Merijn Zeeman doesn't blame Tadej Poagacar for wanting to win in Isola 2000: "We don't want any gifts either"

Visma | Lease a Bike saw Matteo Jorgenson's Tour de France stage victory disappear in the final kilometers of Friday's stage to Isola 2000. The young American was clearly the strongest in the breakaways, but he simply didn't have enough advantage over peloton as Tadej Pogacar flew past Jorgenson with two kilometers to go.

Many believe that the Slovenian should occasionally let other teams have some leftovers too, but it's clear "that he really likes winning", laughed Merijn Zeeman at WielerFlits. "We don't want any gifts either. If he wants to win, he has to win. I would have really liked Matteo and the team to win, it would have been a nice reward. But he wanted to win himself."

In an interview with the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, Zeeman went even further into the 'cannibalism' of the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates. "We were among the lucky ones who could also take a stage, because otherwise he doesn't leave much for the rest. That's his/their choice, of course. But I don't know if it benefits your popularity as a rider," he wonders.

Fellow team manager Frans Maassen could still laugh about it, that Pogacar and UAE were 'not his friends' on Friday. "But nobody says that they have to make friends, right? It is his right to attack. Bad for us, and for the other escapees. But that is top sport. He also rode hard. And deservedly won," he is clear.