"Shows a lack of humility towards his rivals" - Philippe Gilbert unleashes strange criticism of Pogacar
CyclingTuesday, 17 June 2025 at 09:54
Just a day after Tadej Pogacar claimed his first Critérium du Dauphiné title in commanding fashion, former world champion Philippe Gilbert offered an unexpected and rather pointed criticism of the Slovenian.
Writing on his personal 'X' account, Gilbert accused Pogacar of showing a “lack of humility” and suggested he may have made “the first mistake of his career.”
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“A few weeks before the Tour,” Gilbert wrote, “Tadej Pogacar may have made the first mistake of his career by showing a lack of humility towards his rivals, a mistake of youth that can be corrected, because I am sure that his natural character will soon return and with it his positive image.”
What’s striking, however, is that Gilbert didn’t specify what part of Pogacar’s behaviour was problematic. Was it his aggressive riding? His post-stage interviews? His dominance? His smile?
Let’s rewind. Pogacar lost time in the time trial, and went into the final mountain stages behind Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. He responded by attacking hard in both mountain finishes, putting time into both rivals and sealing the overall with three stage wins. Along the way, he chased down a dangerous move from Vingegaard on Stage 1 and outsprinted Mathieu van der Poel, something few riders are capable of. Was that disrespectful?
Was it a “lack of humility” to try and win a race?
Pogacar dominated the mountain stages of the Dauphine
Pogacar is often praised precisely because he doesn’t ride defensively. He races instinctively, attacks early, and embraces the responsibility of being a leader. If he had sat on Vingegaard’s wheel or soft-pedalled to avoid appearing too dominant, would that have been more acceptable?
Gilbert’s comment raises more questions than it answers. It is not clear what behaviour he disliked. There were no gestures of arrogance, no dismissive quotes, and no public criticisms of rivals. Pogacar’s only crime seems to have been that he won, comfortably, and didn’t apologise for it.
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It’s also hard not to see the irony. Gilbert was himself a rider known for aggressive racing and seizing moments when they came. In his prime, he won by dropping rivals with sheer strength and style. If anything, Pogacar is a rider very much in Gilbert’s mould: bold, instinctive, and often better than everyone else.
And so, we’re left to wonder whether the real issue here is tone or timing. Is Pogacar being criticised for winning too much? For being open about his ambitions? For racing year round when others, like Vingegaard, are still cloaked in mystery?
A quelques semaines du Tour @TamauPogi commet peut être la première erreur de sa carrière en manquant d’humilité envers ses adversaires.
— Philippe Gilbert (@PhilippeGilbert) June 16, 2025
Une erreur de jeunesse rattrapable car je suis sûr que son naturel reviendra vite et que son image positive reviendra 🙏🙌.
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- Let us hope it will become historic. Not a Pogacar one-man show.
DareDevil29-06-2025 - Is the participation of pro riders in national championship compulsory in Belgium? If it is, then report of illness is less reliable. I can see why some riders may want to skip it to prepare for the Tour and use illness as an excuse to avoid punishment. I'm not implying that Wout is doing so.
KerisVroom29-06-2025 - He believes in Roglic BUT the lineup (changed at last minute, after Meeus victory) has only 3 climbers (one of these co-captain) and the rest of the team is made up of sprinter/train of sprinter. I notice a contradiction...
maria2024202429-06-2025 - Nah... the Lion of Keyboard (a defaming criminal) explicitly CLAIMS TO KNOW there's a lot of money to cover up Tadej's doping. According to him, the substance is known, tests are positive, but a corrupt system is hiding it. There's no a super evil Gianetti brewing magic potions for Tadej. I don't like Gianetti at all, but let's not exaggerate, he was one more of the culture of his time, like many others who now are managers, DS, and so on.maria2024202429-06-2025
- 'The Belgian rider began the Giro with poor form and only in stage 9 did he show the best version of himself...' He came 2nd on stage 1, having been pipped to the line by Mads Pedersen. Hardly poor form. I think he'll be fine.mikebeast29-06-2025
- As I’ve implied before, if there is doping* in Tadej’s case, it is highly unlikely he’s aware of it after that, knowing enough about the MG story and the sad character he is (what kind of person do you need to be to personally go around altering the unflattering facts of their Wiki pages and then adding ridiculously pedantic flattering ones?) I would not put it past him to orchestrate an updated version of what he probably did with Ricco. Not only should the guy be banned from cycling, he should be banned from having children. No better than the most doped and evil rider ever, just a bit smarter maybe. The other guy I don’t know much about but one is enough.Mistermaumau29-06-2025
- Id refine the order... Tadej - we all know whey he is the new GOAT MVDP - without Tadej, how many more monuments would MVDP have Remco - no totally one dimensional, Jonas - Could be higher of he wasn't one dimensional Wout - without his injuries and bad luck he'd be at three Mads - Huge step this year, he is now in this rarefied company by his efforts rather than just inference My opinions, everyone will have their ownslappers6629-06-2025
- That name sounds vaguely familiar.
santiagobenites28-06-2025 - Nice to see some people still have brain inside their skull and upvote what’s so blatantly clear. Yet the majority, the brainwashed people, keep defending unreal performances of this doper day in day out, all year long, beating epo times climbs by multiple minutes while breathing by nose. Keep believing in miracles, keep believing in better nutrition, tires, frames and similar stuff.. it surely improves your climb by 5 minutes 🙂 and all of this with Gianetti and Matxin - two unrepentant dopers (one almost killing himself while doping) laughing their arses off behind his back.
UltimateOpportunist28-06-2025 - You are correct in saying 'winning pro'. Unfortunately, a great number of them remain involved in pro cycling management.santiagobenites28-06-2025
This sort of communication can be taken offline. He has Tadej's contact. Tadej rode with his son. I don't see any instance where Tadej showed lack of humility. If he meant Tadej not going all out, then it's his perception. You know what I think is lack of humility? Delivering more crushing blow than necessary after your opponent is at his limit, like the way the German football team did to Brazil. It's good for spectators though. But, that's just my perception.
Obviously he needs attention (attention= clicks = money). Yes, he said that his son, secretly, whatsapped Tadej to ride together and the "arrogant" Tadej answered "yes, ok, not problem". Double traitor.
Liverpool came from 3 0 down to come back and beat AC Milan in a European Cup final. The idea Germany should have taken it easy against Brazil is ridiculous. This is supposed to be top level sport. And actually Germany did take it comparatively easy in the second half of that match. In that game, fantasy met reality and got woken up - and the fantasy was that Brazil didn’t see they were a seriously flawed side imagining they were virtually fated to triumph.
You don't have to be a fool to be an ex-pro-turned-commentator, but it seems to help.
Cyclists already don’t have many options, can’t all become DS (for which many aren’t gifted) or open bike shops,, it’s something fans of free sport have to accept as part of the deal. Besides, there’s really very little to report about cycling and its protagonists, what you see is what you get.
The best riders really just get on with their life after retirement. Take the example of Cav
Gilbert was an amazing racer, 4 of the 5 monuments, and that Ardenne triple in that miracle season of his. And yet, here's Pogacar who was one dumb sprint away from winning the triple this season, just like he was one dumb wrist injury away from doing it a few years ago. What did Pogacar do, to lead to these words? Perhaps it was that he simply defeated the Visma LAB team, and didn't even try to compete hard on the last climb of the race. He didn't give the satisfaction of racing hard, after racing hard. Perhaps that's it, a kind of humiliation while winning?
Good to know these guys always have a home on Cycling Up to date to whine and complain
Sadly, some people have a problem with greatness
Some people have a problem with greatness
When? How? where? The parallel world of acid oldies riders desperate for attention... These irresponsible hate mongers don't take into account that these boys are racing defenseless in the middle of the crowd. If some crazy person attack them I pretend these "experts" pay consequences.
Attacks have happened before, though the crouds are usually tame. There have been incidents of sprinters being pushed by spectators on the other side of the barriers. But it's on the climbs where riders are most vulnerable - they travel slowly (unless they're Pogi) and quite often isolated.
maybe he did not show humility at the attacks of Visma, laughing them off, seeing them as pathetic. But he is here to win, so does he need to show humility? Anyone of them will turn on the screws if he were in trouble. He is a winner and it is ok if he shows off as long as it is not egregious disrespect. But i would say that even that is ok since it creates polemics for the race that will be discussed long after.
I don’t know what he’s referring to specifically, if you really try to find something it might just be the way he eased off at the finish which some could interpret as trying to subtly convey a message like »hey guys, don’t bother coz I’m not even trying » I don’t think he would ever consciously think like that but there may be a past traumatised side of him that needs to prove superiority when it’s unnecessary, perhaps he was bullied at school, cyclists are often easy targets, frail and not socially comfortable.
just another bitter old jealous dude realizing Tadej will likely take something he didn’t - all 5 monuments.
Philippe Gilbert: "Who is this,
So tireless and swift in his ascent,
That looks not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth,
And yet is on't?"
I think Joshua Tarling and James Matthew Brennan actually have potential to win Paris-Roubaix