Tadej Pogacar's UAE teammate feared Jonas Vingegaard for Tour de France - "I thought it would be the closest Tour in many years"
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Tadej Pogacar arrived to the Tour de France confident of securing a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey. However, according to one UAE rider, Jonas Vingegaard was as dangerous as ever following his Giro d'Italia domination in May.
Pogacar's eternal Tour de France rival Vingegaard arrived at the Tour following a different approach to the season. After the Slovenian took comfortable victories in 2024 and 2025, Visma and the Dane opted for a Giro-Tour double.
Racing just Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya before his Giro tilt, Vingegaard appeared comfortable throughout his debut Giro, taking the pink jersey with ease and winning five stages on his way.
According to Mikkel Bjerg, who rode the Giro for UAE, he feared that the Dane was in his best shape in many years as he believed that the two would be set for a tightly-contested jostle for yellow in July.
"I had a feeling that this was the best Jonas we've ever seen," Bjerg said on Eurosport's Radio Tour.
Jonas Vingegaard
"I thought it would be the closest Tour in many years"
"Going into the Tour, I thought it would be the closest Tour in many years. It didn't quite turn out that way, but I definitely felt he had stepped up a level."
Of course, a three-week battle between the two didn't come to fruition as Pogacar took the yellow jersey for keeps on stage six, going solo on Col du Tourmalet before putting over 2:30 into Vingegaard and even more into the rest of the overall contenders.
Vingegaard kept things tighter in subsequent stages, but never dropped Pogacar before his team appeared to be teeing up an attack on stage 15 before the Dane's unfortunate crash before the day's mountain-top finish.
At the time, Vingegaard was 4:30 behind Pogacar, but had publicly expressed his desire to keep fighting for yellow - with the stage's finish at Plateau de Solaison understood to be a major goal for attempting to put Pogacar under pressure.
That fall saw him abandon the race with a broken collarbone. He underwent surgery before it was confirmed that the two-time winner's season was over.
Looking ahead to 2027, former Danish national coach and current Eurosport expert, Anders Lund, wants Vingegaard to keep the Tour de France as his main objective, but surround it with a far more ambitious one-day programme featuring Strade Bianche, the Ardennes Classics, the World Championships and Il Lombardia.
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“He needs to start racing one-day races,” Lund said on Eurosport.
“He needs a season where he really commits to it properly, instead of turning up under pressure once at Lombardia and failing, or once at the European Championships and failing there too.”
For a rider with Vingegaard’s stage-racing record, his one-day CV remains remarkably sparse. His best WorldTour Classic result is eighth at Clasica de San Sebastian in 2021, while his only one-day victory came at the Drome Classic in 2022.
He did not contest a one-day race in 2023. His only such start in 2024 came at San Sebastian, where he failed to finish, and his return to championship racing at the 2025 European Championships also ended in a DNF. He did not start a one-day race at all in 2026.
“It is a discipline he has not learned yet,” Lund said. “He should have the attributes for it, but he has not managed to make it work yet.”
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
- I'm picking .... .... Never mind 🫥flyer07-11-2026
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