{"id":5283,"date":"2023-07-26T18:03:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T16:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=5283"},"modified":"2023-07-27T18:05:04","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T16:05:04","slug":"opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you think that the rivalry between the two-time Tour de France winners Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates) is something special, you\u2019re correct. In the long history of the Tour, there has never been anything quite like this mano-a-mano, involving two riders so equally matched and so superior to everyone else in the peloton. This rivalry was the most memorable part of the 2023 Tour, a sporting event that boasted more drama than a Shakespeare play.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are sure to be some Tour connoisseurs who will cite the rivalry between the five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil and the so-called Eternal Second, Raymond Poulidor. The two French riders are indelibly linked in cycling history because of the duels they fought in the Tour, especially in 1964, when Anquetil won the yellow jersey by a mere 55 seconds. But they faced each other only four times in the Tour, with Poulidor finishing second to Anquetil only that one time.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard and Poga\u010dar have already raced against each other three times in the Tour, with the Dane winning the last two editions and finishing second in 2021, and Poga\u010dar finished second the last two years. That is already unique in the annals of the Tour \u2013 and they are only 24 (Poga\u010dar) and 26 (Vingegaard) years old. If we are lucky, we get to watch them race against each other with sound and fury for another five years. Vingegaard is looking forward to it too. \u201cI really enjoy the rivalry with Tadej,\u201d he told Eurosport<\/a> after the race finish in Paris. \u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing fight we had all the way from Bilbao to Paris. I think it\u2019s good for cycling, it\u2019s good for me, it\u2019s good for Tadej. We challenge each other. We make each other better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dane has also called Poga\u010dar \u201cthe best bike rider in the world\u201d because \u201che is a complete rider.\u201d Vingegaard is right. Poga\u010dar is at all the dances \u2013 Monuments, Classics and the Tour de France \u2013 while Vingegaard has only one primary objective: winning the Tour de France. That gives him an advantage. It certainly did this year because the broken wrist Poga\u010dar suffered in the Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge in April deprived him of vital training time and race readiness. Vingegaard, on the other hand, said that he and Jumbo-Visma began preparing for the 2023 Tour not long after the 2022 Tour ended. \u201cI had a perfect winter,\u201d he said. \u201cI am in the form of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question Poga\u010dar needs to ask himself is if it is worth trying to win everything if that means not winning the Tour. He is one of the greatest one-day riders of all time and he is also a superlative Grand Tour rider but is he so good that he can race all spring and then beat Vingegaard in July? That ambition, to dance every dance and win every race, is one of the differences between the two riders. (Yes, Vingegaard will race in the Vuelta, but I think it will be to support teammate Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Vingegaard<\/a>
In the long history of the Tour, there has never been anything quite like this mano-a-mano. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There have been numerous suggestions, from former riders and pundits, that if Poga\u010dar wants to win the Tour again, he must reduce his workload in the spring.\u00a0 The latest such comment came from the recently retired Sep Vanmarcke, who said<\/a>, \u201cWinning the Tour of Flanders two or three more times will contribute less to his palmares than [winning] the Tour one or two more times.\u201d<\/p>\n

In personality too the two men couldn\u2019t be more different. Poga\u010dar is an entertainer who loves playing to the crowd. He has charm, charisma and panache. He is a swashbuckling rider whose explosive accelerations on a climb thrill all cycling fans. We want him to win because his style is what we want our style to be: audacious, flamboyant, daring. Social media love him, and he loves social media.<\/p>\n

I think it is significant that the first thing Vingegaard does after every stage and race is to seek out his wife and young daughter. You get the feeling that he sees cycling and winning the Tour as, first and foremost, a job to support his family. He is a consummate professional, training to the max, following team schedules and orders, rarely improvising. This was clear when Poga\u010dar cracked about 8 km from the top of the Col de la Loze, and Vingegaard seemed unsure of what to do. The plan had no doubt been for him to go on the attack much closer to the summit, and he now seemed at a loss.<\/p>\n

That stage was tailor-made for him because he can climb all day at the same rapid, implacable pace, and the longer and steeper the climb, the greater his chances. Poga\u010dar needs shorter climbs to exploit the speed advantage he has over his rival. That gives the Dane a big advantage because you gain and lose more time over a long climb than you do on a short ascent. Vingegaard took more than 7 minutes off Poga\u010dar on the Col de la Luze while Poga\u010dar gained only seconds when he beat him in a stage. In 2022, Vingegaard used the same strategy to win the yellow jersey, dropping Poga\u010dar on the Col du Granon and gaining nearly three minutes on his rival. And if he hadn\u2019t gifted the victory to teammate Wout van Aert, Vingegaard would have won that year\u2019s time trial as well.<\/p>\n

In fact, despite all the commentary about Vingegaard\u2019s surprising dominance in the 2023 Tour, the time gaps to the also-rans were similar to last year. In 2022, Vingegaard finished 13 min 39 sec ahead of the fourth-place finisher (David Gaudu); this year the margin to the fourth-placed Simon Yates was 12 min 23 sec. The big difference this year was that Poga\u010dar was not fully fit.<\/p>\n

Will the Slovenian reduce his spring schedule to devote the year to winning the Tour? Probably not, perhaps because he is modelling his career on that of Eddy Merckx who rode as many races as he could (apparently<\/a> because of the money). Will Poga\u010dar ever win the Tour de France again? Maybe. He is only 24 and can only get better. At 26, Vingegaard\u2019s upside is probably more limited; in any case, it\u2019s hard to imagine him racing better than he did this year. Whatever the future holds, we are the winners because, barring accident or illness, we can look forward to many years of the greatest rivalry the Tour de France has ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you think that the rivalry between the two-time Tour de France winners Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":5292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nPoga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you think that the rivalry between the two-time Tour de France winners Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-26T16:03:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-27T16:05:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"evelynfindlay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Siegfried Mortkowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/\",\"name\":\"Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-26T16:03:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-27T16:05:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0fb8f5556d93cedeab625dee98f6bf84\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Vingegaard and Poga\u010dar\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0fb8f5556d93cedeab625dee98f6bf84\",\"name\":\"evelynfindlay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca0246e815ce39c3171ab03d96ff7a0617b252ab40d91e1c1e799819dc92fcf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca0246e815ce39c3171ab03d96ff7a0617b252ab40d91e1c1e799819dc92fcf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"evelynfindlay\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/evelynfindlay\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opinion: Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry","og_description":"If you think that the rivalry between the two-time Tour de France winners Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","article_published_time":"2023-07-26T16:03:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-27T16:05:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"evelynfindlay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Siegfried Mortkowitz","Est. reading time":"4"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/","name":"Poga\u010dar vs. Vingegaard Is Already the Tour\u2019s Greatest-Ever Rivalry","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp","datePublished":"2023-07-26T16:03:35+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-27T16:05:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0fb8f5556d93cedeab625dee98f6bf84"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/07\/26\/opinion-pogacar-vs-vingegaard-is-already-the-tours-greatest-ever-rivalry\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2023\/07\/Vingegaard-Pogacar-profimedia-0791386877-CVR.webp","width":990,"height":660,"caption":"Vingegaard and Poga\u010dar"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","description":"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0fb8f5556d93cedeab625dee98f6bf84","name":"evelynfindlay","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca0246e815ce39c3171ab03d96ff7a0617b252ab40d91e1c1e799819dc92fcf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca0246e815ce39c3171ab03d96ff7a0617b252ab40d91e1c1e799819dc92fcf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"evelynfindlay"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/evelynfindlay\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5291,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions\/5291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=5283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}