Despite mutual respect in the Dauphiné, ex-pro says: "Pogacar and Vingegaard will make it a fierce battle"

“We're talking about a race between two men, between the reigning champion and the other, the champion of the two years before,” Bookwalter said in the podcast Beyond the Podium. “If we look back at the past few years, these two men have dominated the Tour, and that will continue to be the case unless there is a disaster, a bizarre situation, a crash, or illness.”

It's not just Pogacar against Vingegaard, but also UAE Emirates-XRG against Visma | Lease a Bike once again. “Two very strong teams,” says Bookwalter. “Two proven champions in their own right, but the momentum is undoubtedly with Pogacar. This man is on fire this year with eleven victories. He is almost unstoppable, which is a very different picture from the situation in which Vingegaard reached the Tour de France.”

Tejay van Garderen, currently sportive director at EF Education-EasyPost, also gave his opinion. The former cyclist sees a healthy rivalry between the two big teams in global cycling. “What I appreciate most is that you can tell these two teams don't like each other. There's a real rivalry.” According to Van Garderen, this is also the case between the riders. “There's no love between these two riders. Of course, there's respect, but these two men want to battle it out.”

To emphasize his point, the American cites an example from last year. "At that point, they were tied at 2-2 (in Tour de France victories, ed.), and you can see that when Pogacar wins, he's at his best. He's just happy and fun to be around. But on the day Jonas beat him in that sprint (stage 11 of the 2024 Tour, ed.), and the momentum shifted to Visma's camp, you saw Pogacar in the cool-down, and he said, I can't lose to this guy for the third time." UAE and Visma are the two dominant teams of this era, fighting for supremacy. These are also the two best riders of their generation.