There was much about the finish of stage seven of the Tour de France that felt familiar. Another Pogačar stage win – the 101st victory of his career – for which no one looked to truly challenge him. Another steep climb where the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was able to prove himself as the best of the best. It was his 19th Tour stage added to the fast-growing tally, and it put him back into the yellow jersey – which many believe he’ll wear from now to Paris. This is all true. But we need to look closer.
Yes – Pogačar has, so far, looked flawless during this Tour, but what about those behind him? Principal among them is Jonas Vingegaard, 2022 and 2023 yellow jersey victor, who has been close on the Slovenian rider’s rear wheel at every time of asking. Apart from a self-confessed “bad day” on Wednesday’s time trial, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider hasn’t fallen victim to Pogačar’s explosive attacks like he once would have. There was an era where an attack from the UAE man on a steep gradient would have forced cracks in Vingegaard's armour to appear, but 2025 is different.
When the 28-year-old was attacked by his younger rival on the rolling climbs of stages two and four, Vingegaard was able to respond in a manner like we have never seen before. These types of short, repetitive accelerations are not where the Danish rider’s strengths lie – he comes into his own on the long mountains later in the race. But still, he is holding his own. Speaking after finishing, once again, in second place behind Pogačar on the stage to Mûr-de-Bretagne, Vingegaard also admitted with confidence that he felt he could have done even more.
“I had good legs today, the team kept me out of trouble and in the front. We did as we wanted to normally. I would say I am happy with second but I think I made a few mistakes there in the sprint in my opinion,” he said. “You never know if it would have changed anything but if you make a small mistake you want to do it differently. If I started my sprint a second or two earlier could have been closer at least, you never know.”
The fact that the Dane is even considering being able to get the better of Pogačar on the terrain which is tailor-made for the world champion’s strengths is a promising sign in the belief he has in his ability for the rest of this race. It’s true that his rival has beaten him each time they have gone mano a mano in the Tour so far, but if Vingegaard is performing so well already, it should give Visma-Lease a Bike hope for what he can do in the mountains which he was born to ride in.
“I had a bad day in the time trial and normally I don't have bad days so it wasn't nice, but still I believe in myself and that we can make a difference in the second or third week,” he smiled at the finish of stage seven.
There is no denying that Pogačar is still the strongest bike rider in this race right now, but every one who has to compete against him has clearly stepped up a level too. Once, an early attack on the final climb to Guerlédan like he made on stage seven would have seen him leave his rivals in the dust, scrambling to limit their losses as the UAE rider disappeared into the horizon ahead. That didn't happen this year.
As he stated in his winner’s post-race press conference, Pogačar doesn’t always need to drop his rivals with an early move because his sprint at the end of a hard stage is reliable enough to seal the deal when he reaches the line regardless. However, the longer climbs that come later in the race won’t lead to the same dynamic that we saw on Friday. There, the race will be decided over efforts of almost an hour, not a few punchy pedal strokes atop a two-kilometre climb. It is there where Vingegaard is going to come into his own, as well as in the mountain time trial on stage 13. He has come through the worst of the opening week, which he surely would have been dreading, and managed to commendably limit his losses. This Tour de France is far from over – we may have a battle on our hands yet.
