"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
Cycling
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."
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.
claps 6visitors 6
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
Loading
17 Comments