🎥 Controversy erupts as Evenepoel and Pogacar take jab at Roglic: "You shouldn't be afraid of him"

Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel have shown they get along well during this Tour de France. The Slovenian leader of UAE-Team Emirates and the Belgian youngster of Soudal-Quick Step met behind the podium after the eleventh stage, where they made fun of Primoz Roglic for a moment.

Evenepoel seemed to make a good move in the general classification on Wednesday, finishing just 25 seconds behind Jonas Vingegaard and Pogacar and gaining another half a minute on Roglic. Roglic had slipped and fell in the last kilometer, but the jury applied the three-kilometer rule, giving him the same time.

"Those rules are part of racing, no problem," Evenepoel told Sporza. However, behind the podium, he showed more emotion when talking to Pogacar. "It was half a minute, that's quite a lot," we hear him say in recorded footage. Pogacar then leans in and whispers to his friend. "You shouldn't be afraid of him," said the yellow jersey wearer.

Continue reading below the video.

Evenepoel gave Roglic a push in the finale

This wasn't the only moment involving Evenepoel and Roglic. NOS analyst Marcel Kittel highlighted a moment from the finale where Evenepoel gave Roglic a push while he was struggling. "Not all of his turns at the front were wholehearted. I think he was at his limit," said the Belgian afterward.

Kittel, however, found the push inappropriate. "What we know is that Evenepoel is stronger than Roglic, but a push like that is not okay. It's disrespectful in my eyes. They are both fighting for the podium in the Tour de France, and you just don't do that. It's something you do in the grupetto, where you're very collegial, but not in the final of a stage. It's speculative what he meant by it, but it's a chance to show that Roglic was completely spent and to show that he was the stronger rider. Something like this shouldn't happen," said the former German sprinter.