“Why should he care if he frustrates the peloton?” – Tadej Pogacar’s insatiable appetite for Tour de France stage wins divides experts
CyclingWednesday, 15 July 2026 at 15:00
Tadej Pogacar is already disappearing into the distance at the 2026 Tour de France, but the Maillot Jaune and a 3:36 advantage over Jonas Vingegaard have done little to temper his pursuit of stage victories.
The UAE Team Emirates – XRG leader has won three of the opening 10 stages, taking his career total to 24 and moving within one victory of Andre Leducq’s fourth place on the all-time Tour list.
UAE’s determination to chase opportunities which might ordinarily have belonged to the breakaway has divided opinion over how much Pogacar should be expected to leave for the rest of the peloton.
“What happened on Sunday, keeping the gap to the breakaway at one minute, does not win you any friends,” former Tour stage winner Jan Bakelants argued on the Sporza Tour podcast.
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Stage 9 appeared to offer one of the opening week’s clearest opportunities for the breakaway. The heat-shortened route to Ussel contained almost 2,800 metres of climbing but no major summit finish, while Pogacar already carried a commanding yellow-jersey advantage.
A powerful move containing Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and Tobias Halland Johannessen eventually escaped, yet UAE refused to allow its advantage to grow significantly. Tim Wellens spent long spells driving a peloton reduced to fewer than 40 riders, repeatedly holding the gap around one minute.
Wellens later explained that UAE had retained hopes of bringing the race back for Isaac del Toro. The team eventually eased its pursuit, allowing Netcompany INEOS and Lidl-Trek to take responsibility before Van der Poel won from the break.
Bakelants believed UAE could have conceded far more ground without placing Pogacar’s yellow jersey in danger. Instead, the relentless control risked creating resentment among riders whose own chances are already severely restricted by the Slovenian’s superiority. “If you become too greedy, you start frustrating other people,” Bakelants said. “I would be interested to see how that is being received in the peloton.”
Sporza presenter Christophe Vandegoor saw little reason for Pogacar to alter an approach that continues producing victories. “Pogacar remains the best, so why should he care if he frustrates the peloton?” he countered. “He wins whenever he wants anyway.”
Pogacar reinforced that argument immediately after the rest day. UAE controlled the mountainous Stage 10 through the Massif Central before their leader attacked on the Col de Pertus, swept past Richard Carapaz and rode alone into Le Lioran.
Pogacar already has three stage wins this Tour de France
Pogacar closes rapidly on Tour’s historic names
Victory at Le Lioran was Pogacar’s 24th Tour stage win from only seven appearances. Mark Cavendish holds the record with 35, followed by Eddy Merckx on 34, Bernard Hinault on 28 and Leducq on 25.
Pogacar has already moved clear of Andre Darrigade’s total of 22 and could pass Leducq during the current Tour. Even Hinault is now only four victories ahead of him.
His 2026 tally might already have stood at four had he not allowed Del Toro to complete UAE’s work on Stage 2. Pogacar instead won at Les Angles, demolished his rivals on the Col du Tourmalet and added the Le Lioran stage on Bastille Day.
Pogacar’s rivals continue racing each other
Former professional rider and team manager Jose De Cauwer believes sustained dominance of that kind would ordinarily encourage Pogacar’s rivals to form an informal alliance. “At some point, a kind of alliance forms and everyone turns against you,” the Sporza analyst said. “Yet they are still going to start racing against each other rather than against him.”
No such alliance emerged after Pogacar attacked on Stage 10. Vingegaard was left carrying most of the pursuit as those around him guarded their own positions in the battle for the podium. Pogacar turned a small initial advantage into another solo victory and extended his lead over every general classification rival.
The pattern continues to work in UAE’s favour. Breakaways are denied the freedom normally available to them, Pogacar’s closest challengers remain divided and every additional victory takes him closer to the most prolific stage winners in Tour history. After only 10 days of the 2026 race, Leducq is one win away and Hinault only four.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Probably because girls sounds more woke and girly, less masculine and macho and so a bit « denigrating « in the eyes of male readers. Aside it being a bad, pointless suggestion it is also quite ironic seeing as it’s way more physical and violent than e.g baseball and that it also isn’t immune to doping. Or maybe it was actually a case of trying to encourage how do they call it, affirmative action?Mistermaumau15-07-2026
- Pogi is a ROCK... Pogi is the KING!!! Now go to a secluded place and cry... cry your heart out.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales15-07-2026
- So why do you hate Pogi, because he's from Slovenia? Dig a hole and hide.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales15-07-2026
- Can you make an effort to try to understand people who don’t think and react like you, they help kerp the world a more interesting place. Why does having suspicions of doping (hardly conspiracy theory crazy stuff) or critcism of any aspects have to equate with not liking a sport? Can you not accept people enjoy sports for MANY different reasons but not all? Why is it so many people jump to illogical or irrelevant conclusions to attack people saying things they don’t like?Mistermaumau15-07-2026
- Jonas has raced in 4 consecutive Grand Tours starting with last year's TdF. It is now taking a toll on his body, mind and his performance.
PogiFan2Day15-07-2026 - So if we don’t ask you anything anymore, will you crawl back under a rock (with all your clones)?Mistermaumau15-07-2026
- Booing is nothing new and certainly not something that needs to be imagined for the cases you mentioned. Times have also changed a bit. Bolt was more around Obama’s time, media had a different approach then and there were different influencers at work behind the scene. With the likes of Trump and Musk on the scene and their enablers and whisperers behind it, am not so sure media would be do universally positive towards Bolts’ dominance. But, even Hitler was smart enough not to be too vocal about JO so, not a sure thing.Mistermaumau15-07-2026
- Or maybe there’s another baby in the works, like MVDP dropped hints against the next cyclocross season?Mistermaumau15-07-2026
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