Lefevere calls Visma | LAB "sore losers" after comments about Pogacar, Zonneveld thinks Pogacar is getting arrogant

Is he too greedy? Or just a great champion? Or both? Analysts have been endlessly discussing Tadej Pogacar's string of victories in this Tour de France in recent days. The Slovenian tallied up his fifth win on Saturday, even though the team at Visma | Lease a Bike with Jonas Vingegaard had somewhat hoped for a small gift. However, that's not how it works, the media writes...

"I didn't hear them say that last year. It sounds like typical sore loser talk," Patrick Lefevere is quoted in HLN, when confronted with comments from Merijn Zeeman. The sports director of Visma | Lease a Bike openly wondered whether Pogacar was being too greedy in this Tour. "No, I don't think it's good for the sport. Let's just say: how many stages has he won now? Four? It's their choice, of course, but I don't know if it's good for your popularity to do it that way. We've luckily won a stage, but he doesn't leave much for the other teams."

That's also why Zeeman laughed on Saturday at NOS when asked if he had expected a gift from Pogacar. Something Vingegaard had secretly hoped for a bit. "I was hoping that he might let me win the stage, but I was pushing so hard that if he had challenged me in a sprint, I stood no chance. I was at my limit, so all I could do was hope. But this is also cycling and I don't hold it against him. I would probably do the same. I'm happy with how I performed today and how I was able to bounce back from yesterday," said the Dane after stage 20.

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Should Pogacar have gifted the victory to Vingegaard?

Thijs Zonneveld calls Pogacar "a bit arrogant" in a column for AD, regarding his intent to potentially give away stage 20 and his quiet finish. However, he was glad that the Slovenian ultimately won. "That would have been truly arrogant and humiliating. Giving your biggest rival a stage as if you couldn't care less: ugly. It’s like letting your 5-year-old nephew win at Stratego because otherwise, he’d start crying again. Gifting a stage to someone you've been battling tooth and nail with for every second over four years is like wrapping a turd in gift paper. But criticizing a frequent winner simply because he wins often is as nonsensical as a tuna on a drum kit."

In the podcast 'De Tour van Wuyts & Vlaeminck,' Michel Wuyts also made it clear: "No matter what team boss Zeeman may say, gifts are not appropriate in the Tour. You strive for the highest attainable. Pogacar is strong, exciting, and intelligent. The fifth was a case of making optimal use of other teams, making the right move everywhere, and maintaining strict control. I also assume that he took revenge in the sprint for the lost sprint at Le Lioran, don't underestimate that underlying revenge. This Tour is a worthy successor in beauty to the previous two."

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Pogacar puts Visma | Lease a Bike on edge

But we're far from done with podcasts! On Live Slow Ride Fast, they understood why Pogacar took the victory, but they also discussed the consequences. "We've talked about this in the last few days, even with Lance Armstrong saying: do you want to be the rider who is hated? Analytically, it's also fascinating. In old-school cycling, you give and take a little, a little bartering. One rider is friends with this rider, another rider with that one, helping each other out. But this is also an elite sport. Pogacar could have made himself immortal with part of the cycling audience, but Vingegaard himself said he probably would have done the same. That’s a dynamic unimaginable in any other sport," says Thomas Dekker.

"Gifts are almost never given among the big four," Laurens ten Dam then remarked. "And Visma | Lease a Bike was also 'hated' by the peloton last year, though it was always different riders. Jonas once gave a time trial to Wout van Aert, which was easier. Pogacar has never received a gift from Visma, and he has felt quite lonely these past years. He would have liked to give one to a Jorgenson, Kelderman, or Tratnik." Dekker adds: "Visma | Lease a Bike has been provoked, that was already the case. This was just the icing on an already hot cake."