Tour de France: Tadej’s Big Trouble

The Tour de France is cycling’s biggest challenge, and the three-week race exerts pressure on everyone, from team leadership to the lowliest domestiques. But for Tadej Pogačar, July seems to be a much bigger litmus test, both for his performance and public perception.

Can Pogi ever truly balance an indomitable winning streak with becoming a likable athlete beyond fans “witnessing greatness?” After the first week of the 2025 Tour de France, the cracks are starting to show — and the next two weeks are still to come.

Christening the new Cannibal.

Before the 2025 cycling season, Tadej Pogačar draws comparisons to cycling great Eddy Merckx — some even dub him the new “Cannibal,” Merckx’s nickname. What do the two have in common? Well, an impressive palmares and an ability to win across many types of terrain come to mind. Even Merckx himself has very positive things to say about Pogi.

But among cycling fandom? Tadej’s winning streak isn’t that popular. Online discourse wages over whether cycling audiences should be critical of a single dominant figure within the sport or should simply be happy to “witness greatness.”

These conversations have intensified with Pogačar riding (and winning!) in the spring classics, typically reserved for the larger, punchier, and more resilient members of the peloton. After all, Pogi put forward a great showing at Paris-Roubaix,one of the most challenging races in the sport… and the most distinct from GC contests like the Tour de France.

Seeing a GC rider who is clearly dominant at the Tour de France (along with other Grand Tours) become dominant across other sub-disciplines of cycling ruffles a few feathers.

Through it all, many fans continue to praise Pogi for being an easy-going, fun, and amiable figure. But underneath his increasingly demanding schedule and typical rider PR opportunities, some are also noticing a different attitude from Pogačar… one that carries a slightly more negative connotation.

An arrogant persona in the peloton?

One of the biggest criticisms levied towards Pogačar surrounds his perceived arrogance.

For a top-level athlete, striking the right balance of “humble” and “confident” can be more than a little tricky. Especially for someone as dominant across the sport as Pogi, it’s important to avoid the perception of being an unstoppable, uncaring winning machine — even if that is, effectively, what he is.

But fans tend to see a bit of an arrogant streak in Pogačar, which is often directly criticized in tandem with his aggressive, no-holds-barred approach to racing. He attacks even when he doesn’t need to, and he doesn’t mince words in interviews. Many of his actions, comments, and even his victories themselves have been interpreted by some as a lack of humility, a deliberate attempt to annoy his rivals… or simply greedy for not leaving wins for others.

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The framing contributes to this image, especially when intentionally put in sharp contrast with the reserved personality of Pogi’s main rival, Jonas Vingegaard. It’s not just fans who have brought this up, but also former pros and journalists. During last year’s Tour de France in 2024, former Dutch cyclist Tom Dumoulin explicitly linked Pogačar’s attacks to arrogance. In his view, Pogačar’s “pointless” attacks were a “pure bluff” and “mere show of strength” designed “just to annoy Vingegaard.” Similar statements came after Pogačar supposedly “gifted” a 2024 Tour stage to Vingegaard, again mostly from Dutch media.

It feels like no coincidence that a lot of the criticism comes from Dutch sources, or that the comparison is always to Vingegaard, who is almost humble and polite to a fault. But how much of Pogačar’s “arrogance” is real, and how much comes from his rivalry with (and wins over) Vingegaard and team Visma Lease-a-Bike?

An all-out war with competitors from Visma Lease-a-Bike.

The real story surrounding Pogačar at the 2025 Tour de France is his supposed verbal and now physical scuffles with members of his primary rival team, Visma Lease-a-Bike.

Visma is one of the most dominant teams in professional cycling alongside Pogačar’s own UAE Team Emirates. Fans will remember their overwhelmingly winning 2023 season, where the super squad won all three Grand Tours along with a significant number of one-day and stage races. These wins came not just from team star Vingegaard, but a strong supporting cast of GC riders, classics riders, and domestiques.

In 2025, Pogačar’s teammates at UAE have clearly stepped up into an equal role. They nabbed GC wins at the Tour de Suisse, Itzulia Basque Country, and Tirreno-Adriatico. Isaac Del Toro also made a strong showing in the Giro d’Italia this year before ultimately being beaten by VLAB’s Simon Yates.

However, the situation of having two top superteams seems to be leading to friction.

After Stage 6 and 7, Pogačar expressed a bit of annoyance with Visma Lease-a-Bike’s strategy of constant attacks early in the stage in post-race interviews. The VLAB squad was quick to clap back, suggesting that it was “good thing he doesn’t get it.”

More fuel was added to the fire by a video shared by Kristo Jorgenson, brother to VLAB racer Matteo Jorgenson, on social media, showing Pogačar pushing rider Jorgenson in the feed zone. What could initially be interpreted as a regular racing occurrence — after all, riders often make physical contact in the bunch to direct and alert each other — into something more sinister. Both Jorgenson and Pogačar downplayed it in interviews the next day.

The souring rivalry quickly turned into an uproar across social media, with opinions falling along fandom lines. Pogačar fans are quick to defend his actions, while Vingegaard or VLAB fans are often harshly critical. Interpretations of the pushing incident and the debate surrounding it seem to be more manifestations of general unhappiness with Pogačar rather than a real critique of his actions or statements.

Is Pogačar really turning into the villain of the sport these fans seem to think he is?

A Tour de France, under pressure.

Looking holistically at the last few years of comments and actions, it’s possible to come to an interesting conclusion: Tadej Pogačar does not really enjoy racing in the Tour de France.

During the 2024 Tour, Pogačar openly said that he found some sections of the year’s parcours to be “strange” and “boring.” While it’s odd to hear the man himself saying things that mirror his critics — after all, one of the most common complaints about Pogi dominance is that it makes racing predictable and boring to watch — it does seem to reflect a larger attitude from Pogačar and his entire team regarding the Tour de France.

Riding in the Tour is as much of a sponsor obligation as a personal goal. Pogačar’s often tense body language and lack of enthusiasm in interviews would suggest that his balance is shifting more towards the former. But in approaching the Tour with such seeming disinterest or even discomfort, he’s feeding the arrogance rumors and doing more to squander his fans goodwill. Perhaps more importantly, he’s also providing fodder for those with the loudest critical voices in the media or on social networks.

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Vingegaard rivalry seems to remain a bright spark… but for how long?

If there’s one thing that Pogačar seems to expect from every Tour de France, it’s racing against a full-strength Jonas Vingegaard.

Last year, he seemed somewhat disappointed that Vingegaard wasn’t up to his usual form due to his nearly season-ending crash in Itzulia Basque Country. This year, he was quick to praise Vingegaard, calling him the “best climber in the world”as he has done on multiple occasions.

In fact, it almost seems like Pogi only really enjoys racing with Vingegaard in the high mountains out of everything in the Tour de France. Coincidentally, that is what most fans enjoy as well.

The rivalry, and more importantly the respect, between these two riders is one of the narrative bright spots of modern cycling. It brings a lot of excitement to the Tour de France, never knowing which of the two will come out on top. It’s something to look forward to each year, a stark contrast from periods like the dominant Sky years. And it’s one reason why the petty infighting seemingly playing out between Pogačar and Vingegaard’s VLAB colleagues is wrenching to see. For these two team leaders, it would be much better to maintain a friendly and collegial relationship than to allow the rivalry to decline into something more toxic.

Pogačar’s teammates are not without fault in the potential rift. Some, including key domestique Nils Politt, have taken a nasty attitude towards VLAB riders, right down to getting pushy in the peloton. But ultimately, this superteam rift only becomes a problem once it reaches the top: between Pogačar and Vingegaard themselves.

Turning the Tour around for Tadej Pogačar.

Constantly having to “witness greatness” as Tadej Pogačar wins almost every race on the calendar is not a fun experience for many fans. But from my perspective, it’s worse to see this new negativity take hold, both among riders and on social media.

Whatever the case, it’s clear that Tadej Pogačar isn’t enjoying the 2025 Tour de France. He may be winning the GC contest so far, but I doubt he’s winning the contest for having fun.

Maybe it’s the pressure to defend his title from last year — moreover while wearing the rainbows of World Champion, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in the history of cycling. Maybe it’s negativity from rivals Visma Lease-a-Bike and from within his own team. Maybe it’s the media and fan perceptions of him becoming arrogant and overconfident starting to weigh on his public persona.

Or maybe we’re all just waiting for the high mountain stages, where he can go head-to-head against Vingegaard and finally start setting things right.

At this point, the most troubling phenomenon of this year’s Tour de France is the tribalism between fans of Pogačar and Vingegaard. For me, the rivalry between them is much more important and defensible than either of them individually. They’re both human: they both do good and bad things from time to time, and none of the cycling viewers at home really know what’s going on between them or inside their heads. To see every pro-Vingegaard conversation turn anti-Pogačar (and vice versa) is a tiring experience when trying to engage online. This type of tribal fandom, while more frequently seen in other sports, has thankfully been uncommon in the world of cycling until now. For me, it doesn’t reflect the spirit of the sport I enjoy.

For the 2025 Tour de France, Pogačar seems to have enough problems on his plate without being called arrogant or cocky. Let’s see how some final climbs in the later stages shake out between him and Vingegaard — and let them deliver the same excellence and sportsmanship we’ve come to expect from both of these riders.

There’s no need to write an end to the story just yet.

Are you rooting for Tadej Pogačar to take his fourth Tour de France win? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments or on social media! ★