"You can go down as a good sportsman, or you can go down as a 3-time Tour de France winner" - Tejay van Garderen questions Vingegaard waiting for Pogacar

Jonas Vingegaard and co had a potentially golden opportunity on stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France when Tadej Pogacar was caught up in a late crash. To their credit however, the entire of the remaining GC group chose not to attack the fallen UAE leader, and instead the group sat up and waited for the world champion to remount and get back in contact.

Whilst this sign of respect was undoubtedly a great show of sportsmanship, was it also an opportunity missed for the likes of Vingegaard in the fight for the Maillot Jaune? This was a topic debated on the post-stage 11 edition of Beyond the Podium for NBC Sports. "I think what also enters into the equation when we talk about Tadej Pogacar being one of the greatest of all time - before the stage today, we were talking about him breaking the all-time Tour stage record - there also is an element of, if you go for the jugular now, and destroy him in this way, what's going to happen afterwards?" ex-pro Brent Bookwalter begins. "In the remaining Tours de France as well."

Former White Jersey winner at the Tour de France Tejay van Garderen is more of the view that this was indeed a chance missed however. "This was the opportunity that they had. And I don't want to see it that way, of course they would have never wanted him to crash, but it wasn't a Visma rider who took him out," notes the American. "The opportunity presented itself and yeah, you can go down as a good sportsman, or you can go down as a 3-time Tour de France winner. I would rather be a three-time Tour winner."

"I don't see him taking time on Hautacam or anywhere else, so this was the opportunity," Van Gardernen adds in reference to Vingegaard's chances of making a difference on stage 12. "I would have taken it."

Van Garderen is himself a sports director at EF Education-EasyPost, and whilst it was his team who had the Maillot Jaune through Ben Healy, with the Irishman reportedly leading the calls to wait for Pogacar, Van Garderen doesn't believe his team's situation overall can be compared to that of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's. "It wouldn't have mattered to them (EF)," he explains. "They are just happy to keep the jersey for another day. Jonas Vingegaard is trying to win the Tour."