Tadej Pogacar 'irritated' by Visma-Lease a Bike pressure at Tour de France - but is it all part of the Jonas Vingegaard masterplan?
Updated 14/07/2025 at 21:52 GMT+1
Is Tadej Pogacar starting to feel the pressure from Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team? Victor Campenaerts thinks so, hinting that their persistent attacks are starting to "irritate" the yellow jersey favourite at the Tour de France. With Pogacar’s support team weakening and Visma looking lively, the psychological battle could prove just as decisive as the legs in the yellow jersey battle.
Campenaerts: 'Sometimes I have the impression Pogacar gets irritated'
Video credit: TNT Sports
One of Jonas Vingegaard’s team-mates believes Tadej Pogacar is getting "irritated" by Visma-Lease a Bike’s relentless pressure at the Tour de France.
Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has shown flashes of annoyance during this year’s race, notably telling rivals Visma to "pay respect to everybody" after a pushing incident on Stage 7. It has sparked talk of growing tension between the two dominant teams in the race for yellow.
Pogacar and Vingegaard have split the last five editions of the Tour - Pogacar winning in 2020, 2021 and 2024, Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023 - and their latest battle is shaping up to be their fiercest yet.
Visma took the fight to UAE again on Stage 10, with Matteo Jorgenson launching several attacks that were quickly chased down by Pogacar.
The Slovenian set off himself in the closing kilometres, with Vingegaard managing to follow. The pair shook hands at the finish - but behind the civility, is "psychological warfare" simmering?
Speaking on TNT Sports and discovery+ after team-mate Simon Yates triumphed on Bastille Day, Visma’s Victor Campenaerts admitted they may have got under Pogacar’s skin.
"We tried to attack, but the problem is we have a very strong opponent. We try to put him under pressure day after day," he said.
"Sometimes I have the impression he gets irritated, or his team gets irritated, because we try so hard.
"But we have to be honest: he's the best rider in the peloton, he's the best rider maybe of all time. So it's really hard to counter him."
Speaking to reporters, Pogacar admitted Visma had got on his nerves.
"They were a bit annoying with all the attacks, so I decided to make a better attack," he said.
"Now it's a day off and it's good that I don't have the yellow jersey. Honestly, I'm most happy not to be talking to journalists."
Campenaerts insisted they would not be changing their tactics just to keep things friendly.
"We try as hard as possible and we think with Jonas we have the best chance to beat him to first spot, but it will be extremely challenging. We have 11 days to come and we will try a lot more," he said.
Pogacar let the yellow jersey go to Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) before the first rest day and now trails the Irishman by 29 seconds in the general classification. Vingegaard sits fourth, 1’46" off yellow and 1’13" behind Pogacar.
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'Psychological warfare' - McEwen on Visma’s Tour strategy to stop Pogacar
Video credit: TNT Sports
Over on The Breakaway, host Orla Chennaoui welcomed the apparent confirmation of tension.
"That's the insight we've been looking for," she said. "That feels like what they [Visma] are trying to do and it does feel that in Tadej's interviews, not just here but also the [Criterium du] Dauphine onwards, that he's niggling ever so slightly.
"He's like 'why do they keep doing this - I don't understand.'"
Robbie McEwen suggested it could be a deliberate ploy from Visma to unsettle Pogacar.
"If it's not working on the road doing it with the legs, you've got to try and use a little bit of psychological warfare," he said.
"And hopefully lure him into some sort of mistake because he gets a little bit irritated during the race."
So far, Pogacar has looked largely untroubled on the bike, but his support system is weakening.
His key mountain domestique, Joao Almeida, abandoned the race on Stage 9 with injury, while Pavel Sivakov was off the pace with illness on Stage 10 - leaving Pogacar isolated in the closing stages in the Massif Central.
"They are obviously trying to put him under pressure," said Larry Warbasse. "Maybe they are trying to irritate him, and he clearly has been slightly irritated by the interviews that he's given. But maybe we are playing it up a little bit..."
He added: "Tadej is not only strong on the bike, I do think he has a really strong head. I think he is a formidable opponent. And like they said, he's the best in the world, he's probably the best of all time, so it's not easy to beat someone like that."
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