"Visma is riding aggressively this Tour de France" - UAE boss 'warns' Visma about their tactics to tire Pogacar out
Cycling
At the end of stage 8 of the Tour de France 2025, Joxean Matxin granted a few words to Eurosport to assess what has been so far a fight between Pogacar and Vingegaard. With the absence of mountains, the duel has been more psychological so far, with novel strategies, the tactician notes.
In fact, Tadej Pogacar has criticized Visma | Lease a Bike for its plans on flat or very low gradient stages. The Dutch team's goal from the start is that the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader wears himself out every day, and arrives at the mountains more tired than a Jonas Vingegaard who they see as having more endurance.
Matxin made a clear statement on the matter. He did not want to criticize the strategy of his rivals, but he did throw a camouflaged dart at them, threatening the fact that this will not really affect Pogacar.
"We study and analyze the rivals, but we don't give our opinion because we don't have all the information about what they want. We have to focus on what we can do, control, and we will try to defend the lead," the UAE boss began.
Tadej Pogacar attacks with Jonas Vingegaard in his wheel
"It's true that Visma is riding aggressively this Tour de France. It's always good that they are moving and trying. But it's true that they're doing it on flat stages. It's an opinion I absolutely respect. I guess they will have analyzed that in that kind of attrition stage Tadej is quite good," Matxín added.
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While Visma is being aggressive, Tadej Pogacar is looking more conservative. On finishes like the Mur de Bretagne on Friday, where he won his second stage of the race, the Slovenian didn't want to attack when the gradient was not steep enough, instead waiting until the end to sprint.
But Matxin claims that this was pure strategy to take advantage of Jhonatan Narváez's quality:
"We have one of the best puncheurs at the Tour with Narvaez. We knew he was going to be in front. If he wasn't at the service of Pogacar, he would be a very tough rival on that finish. With him we had the perfect weapon to launch Tadej, and what better way to take advantage of a rider who leaves you a victory on a plate 200 meters from the finish," said UAE's top man.
Joao Almeida's health
In addition to the analysis of the fight between Pogacar and Vingegaard, Matxín also spoke about Joao Almeida, who suffered a lot this Saturday riding his first stage with a fractured rib:
"If we could choose to avoid the fall of Joao Almeida, who suffered quite a bit today, we would. But cycling is not mathematics in racing circumstances. But on a sporting level we are happy. Two victories for Tadej, yellow jersey and avoiding crashes."
"About Joao, there is a phrase in Italian that defines him: 'Che non molla mai', which means that he never gives up. He has a lot of courage, grit, he's a cyclist who never gives up and I think that if he really sees that his health is good enough for the mountains, he'll do it. We will try to make him recover as much as possible these days. We're just going to give him confidence and we're not going to put any pressure on him," he concluded.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- guess what Valgren, you're 34, and no you're not good enough. sorry to say.mij14-11-2026
- I'm a sepp fan and like to think he earned that LOL, indulge me : ) I think Jonas was fine. Roglic did not want to concede to Sepp. and I don't think you ever attack your own teammate in the leaders jersey if he is holding his own, which Sepp just about was.mij14-11-2026
- enough time? he's 24 years old. He's won 10 races over the last 2 years and some are significant. I won't argue about his attitude being good - it needs to improve. But with some coaching and mentorship he has a lot of winning ahead of him and has plenty of time to win a GT. I don't think he will ever beat Tadej, but everyone else is fair game Look at Mas and Valverde - they were 31 and 29, respectively, when they won the Vuelta.mij14-11-2026
- Pogacar has a fine head on his shoulders.Careful investments and a couple of coffee shops sounds like a wonderful way to chill after an intense career.Stay healthy GOAT.
Brucegel14-11-2026 - I live in Maribor.PogiSloFans14-11-2026
- I live in Ljubljana and often go on trips in the surrounding area, where I frequently see young cyclists in 'Pogi Team' jerseys training, either alone or in groups. By simply motivating so many young people to take up cycling, Tadej has already achieved something truly significant.Velijo14-11-2026
- That's an excellent point. It's interesting that Vader came to that realization only after he learned that his contract wasn't going to be renewed.
santiagobenites14-11-2026 - Indeed! A reluctant gift maybe. Even more reluctant gift from Roglic! Tho I can’t see that Rog would have beaten Ving anyway.Lozza14-11-2026
- That really nasty crash in 2022 Liege must have played a big part - broken ribs, pneumothorax. You only have to look at his points tallies pre and post.Lozza14-11-2026
- Yeah, good luck getting tv and race organisers like ASO etc to part with their cash!Lozza14-11-2026
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