"You could see Pogacar looking at that hand like, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’" - Experts claim Vingegaard's respect is attempt at Tour de France mindgames

The opening 10 stages of the 2025 Tour de France have made for some incredibly compelling racing. One of the more notable aspects has been the constantly aggressive tactics of Team Visma | Lease a Bike as they look to fatigue UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Tadej Pogacar.

On stage 10, Visma were again a presence at the front of the GC group, attacking through the likes of Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson, forcing UAE to burn through their riders and leave Pogacar somewhat isolated. The Slovenian himself though, seemed relatively unbothered by Visma, and even attacked himself towards the line. Jonas Vingegaard was the match of his rival though, and as the crossed side by side, Pogacar and Vingegaard shared a handshake of respect.

Was this respect shown by Vingegaard though, or was it an attempt at mind-games? In the opinion of two-time Tour de France stage winner Michael Boogerd, there might have been something more to it. "You could see Pogacar looking at that hand like, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’" laughed Erik Breukink and Boogerd on the Bicycling Wielercafé podcast. "He probably checked to make sure there was nothing on it!"

“Vingegaard’s pretty liberal with his hand gestures. Every time he’s on camera, he’s blowing kisses or waving — he clearly enjoys that kind of thing. But you can also tell both teams are constantly trying to provoke each other a bit," Boogerd added. "That’s all part of the game.”

On Visma's tactics, the Dutch pair can also see the reasoning, albeit they aren't fully convinced. “Those first couple of days, I thought their tactics were a bit much," concludes Breukink, himself a four-time Tour de France stage winner. "Vingegaard attacking on descents or on the flat. It didn’t strike me as very clever. But clearly, they’re hoping Pogacar will crack eventually while they stay strong. That’s the thinking.”