The Tour de France rivalry between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard and their UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike teams is intense and fought out on a daily basis. It has, at least so far, not turned nasty.
The racing is high-speed and there have been some tactical beefs during the stages, but then respect and fair play after the finish line. After Pogačar beat Vingegaard in a sprint on the Mûr-de-Bretagne hilltop finish on Friday, their respective directeur sportif shook hands near their team cars.
The ever-friendly Pogačar often shakes hands with Vingegaard post-stage and they usually swap a few words as they warm down in the podium area. Pogačar seems sincere but could be playing mind games. However, Vingegaard knows how to respond to any words, just as he has been able to respond to Pogačar's attacks so far in this year's Tour.
"I accept that I'm competitive as a team manager but Pogačar is a true champion because he always wants to win, even when he's playing cards," UAE team manager Mauro Gianetti explained to Cyclingnews after stage 6.
In the 2024 Tour, when Remco Evenepoel accused Vingegaard of not having 'the balls' to work with him and Pogačar on the gravel stage to distance their GC rivals, the soft-speaking Dane responded: "It wasn't a lack of 'balls', I just rode smart," he said.
The UAE-Visma rivalry began when Pogačar snatched his first Tour victory in the Planches des Belles Filles time trial in 2020, defeating Primož Roglič and Visma with an incredible time trial performance.
Pogačar and Vingegaard have fought for the last four editions of the Tour. Pogačar leads 3-2 on victories but Vingegaard has defeated the Slovenian twice. Their rivalry is tense because they and their teams are almost equal over three weeks of racing.
On Thursday, Pogačar was irritated by Visma's attempts to up the pace in the peloton to ensure he stayed in the yellow jersey rather than pass it to Mathieu van der Poel. He questioned if they were worried about losing a chunk of time in the stage 5 time trial and even calling them 'rubbish' on Slovenian radio.
"Visma tried to do, I don't know what…" he said as he warmed down after stage 6. With his beef with Visma emerging briefly, Vingegaard responded.
"Pogačar can think whatever he wants. We are allowed to run our tactics, and they are allowed to run their tactics. It may be that you don't understand each other's tactics, but that's how cycling is," he was quoted as saying to Danish TV channel TV2.
"What was the plan? It's a good thing Pogačar doesn't get it," he told Sporza in response. "We're following our own tactics and did exactly what we wanted. Period."
'In the race we're rivals, fighting for every centimetre of the road'
Cyclingnews has seen Mauro Gianetti punch the air and let out some strong words of celebration when Pogačar defeats Vingegaard.
UAE and Visma play tactical games whenever possible. Tim Wellens opted out of wearing the Tour de France polka-dot jersey on stage 6, forcing Vingegaard to wear it and then endure a problem with an old, now illegal Dutch betting sponsor mistakenly placed on the jersey.
In recent years the two teams have often delayed naming the selections for races to not give a tactical advantage to the other. Each major race is a battle for victory and that is especially so at this year's Tour de France.
"Before the start of the Tour, we knew there would be a rivalry. Visma came with a strong team and so did we, that's the battle. UAE and Visma are perhaps the strongest teams but only one can win," Gianetti said.
"But the Tour is not just about us. Remco is still in the game, Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley, too. We need to respect everybody."
Beyond the finish line of stage 7, Grischa Niermann was seen offering a sporting handshake to Matxin and fellow directeur sportif Andrej Hauptman.
"We respect them." Matxin insisted.
"In the race, we're rivals, fighting for every centimetre of the road but beyond the finish line, we have a good relationship."
After stage 7 to Mūr-de-Bretagne, Pogačar was back in the yellow jersey, with Evenepoel second overall at 54 seconds, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was third at 1:11 and Vingegaard was fourth at 1:17.
The two flat stages to Laval and then Châteauroux at the weekend will surely offer a moment of truce. The UAE-Visma rivalry will return in the Massif Central on France's Bastille Day and then in the Pyrenees, on the exposed slopes of Mont Ventoux and then in the Alps during the final week.
As Gianetti said, only one team can win in Paris.
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