Wout van Aert has hit back at the latest criticism from Tadej Pogačar, as the UAE-Visma Tour de France tactical tensions continued on the second rest day.
Pogačar and UAE are so far dominating the 2025 Tour de France, and the world champion leads Jonas Vingegaard by 4:13, but the two super teams are locked in a battle for the team classification at the Tour. There have been gestures of fair play, but they continue to compete out on the road and when discussing each other's tactics.
Pogačar's comment appeared to touch a nerve at Visma, also because they dug up on criticism from Vingegaard's wife about the team occasionally focusing on stage victories with Van Aert instead of protecting Vingegaard. Former Danish stars Bjarne Riis and Brian Holm are among those to have criticised Visma's divided race strategy.
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Visma targeted stage 15 to Carcassonne on Sunday with Van Aert, only for UAE's Tim Wellens to infiltrate the break of the day, sit on and then attack away solo. The Belgian national champion gave UAE their fifth stage win, while Visma's Victor Campenaerts finished second and Van Aert was a disappointed fourth.
Visma's aggressive stage tactics drew criticism from Pogačar after they continued to attack despite Vinegaard being slowed by an early crash. Pogačar had told his team car via race radio he would wait for Vingegaard, but then he was forced to follow Visma attacks from Matteo Jorgenson as Vingegaard chased behind.
"The thing that bothered me was that there were three Visma guys trying to go in the break again," Pogačar said after stage 15.
"They had Jonas chasing, and it would have been much easier for everyone if one of them went in the break. It was a weird situation, so we tried to control it. We got a victory, so…"
Van Aert shrugged off Pogačar's comments during his press conference on Monday morning, before Visma went for a rest day coffee ride in Narbonne.
"I think it's quite funny what Tadej is saying because in the end, it was super clear that he also wanted to have Wellens in the breakaway yesterday, so they're doing the same thing," Van Aert said.
"If I look back to when Jonas was held up by the crash, I think there was an easy solution: we were 25 guys and they were all jumping to get in the breakaway.
"If Tadej went back to the peloton, where Jonas was, he could have shown real sportsmanship. Now he's complaining about something that's not there. We wanted to ride for the stage win; that's why we were in front of the race."
Van Aert couldn't resist poking the UAE-Visma rivalry by reminding everyone of the outcome of the Giro d'Italia.
While Isaac del Toro focused on Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost, Simon Yates attacked on the Colle delle Finestre and then joined forces with Van Aert, who helped him open a decisive gap and so seal overall victory.
"I also think UAE will have learned their lesson after the Giro," Van Aert said, when speaking in Dutch.
Van Aert sees more stage victory opportunities but insisted he will also play a domestique role for Vingegaard, as the Dane tries to take on Pogačar for the yellow jersey.
"Of course, he has to attack. And an all-or-nothing attack is a possibility. It's going to be a super-tough week. Pogačar has been the best uphill rider so far, but we have to keep trying," Van Aert said.
"The pieces haven't fallen into place yet, but I can't fault myself for much. I'm in the form I need to perform. And because of the fatigue in the peloton, the final week suits me better."
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