“I didn’t hear them say that last year”: Patrick Lefevere calls Visma-Lease a Bike “sore loser” after sports director says Tadej Pogačar “doesn’t leave much for others” and questions if Tour de France domination helps his “popularity”

While the on-road battle for second place at this year’s Tour de France is all but done — Jonas Vingegaard’s improved showing on stage 20 ending Remco Evenepoel’s runner-up ambitions — Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere continued his team’s head-to-head with Visma-Lease a Bike in the press, calling the Dutch squad a “sore loser” after a sports director questioned if Tadej Pogačar winning as many stages as he did would help his “popularity”.

“I didn’t hear them say that last year. It’s a bit of the language of the sore loser,” the typically outspoken Belgian team boss told HLN, his comments following Visma-Lease a Bike’s sports director Merijn Zeeman telling the Dutch-language newspaper that Pogačar “doesn’t leave much for others” and that his leaving of few opportunities for rival teams and breakaway riders would potentially impact his “popularity”.

Of course, Lefevere’s riposte about not hearing them complain last year is a reference to the fact that in 2023 Visma-Lease a Bike (then called Jumbo-Visma) won the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España with three different riders. Despite this, the team actually ‘only’ won seven stages out of the 63 in total across the three Grand Tours, with five of those coming at the Vuelta.

During Primož Roglič’s Giro success and Vingegaard’s Tour victory, they only won a single stage of each race, both time trials. By contrast, Pogačar alone has (ahead of today’s time trial in Nice where he very well may add another to the tally) won 11 stages on route to his historic Giro-Tour double, a win rate of more than 25 per cent. During this Tour, five stages have gone to the breakaway, although two of those came in the first two days of the race, Pogačar winning all four of the race’s main mountain summit finishes.

It is to that context that Zeeman said: “Pogačar is the best, bravo to him. We are among the lucky ones who were able to take a stage, because otherwise he doesn’t leave much for others. It’s his choice, of course. But I don’t know if that contributes to his popularity.”

And the answers to these two questions were: Yes, obviously. And no, obviously. Ouch… https://t.co/CUPFLmO7m9

— road.cc (@roadcc) July 20, 2024

His comments were probably party explained by the frustration of having just seen Matteo Jorgenson’s two-minute advantage and likely stage win obliterated by a charging yellow jersey on Isola 2000 on Friday, the rhetoric around Pogačar’s dominance starting to mirror much of what Eddy Merckx heard during his career about cannibalising the peloton.

“You don’t give away stages to your closest competition,” the Slovenian said after yesterday’s stage, when he had arrived to the final 200m alongside his great rival and some had pondered if he would allow the Dane the stage victory. 

As it turned out Pogačar had been true to his word of letting the breakaway have its chance, and it was mainly the work of Soudal Quick-Step, hoping to tee up an Evenepoel attack, and then Vingegaard’s pacing that set up Pogačar’s sprint to victory in the final 200m. For the most part he had seemed unbothered by the prospect of the stage win.

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The yellow jersey continued: “We maybe gave the breakaway enough time today, they had a big chance, and they had [a] big chance a lot of times. But sprinters also don’t say ‘Okay, today another sprinter can win, I will back off a little bit’. It’s a sport where you want to win, where you need to win. You’re paid to win. It’s a pressure and you need to deliver. Otherwise, it’s not good for you if you don’t deliver. You always need to go for the victory if you can.”

After months of training, altitude camps, time away from home, sacrifices, dieting, plus all those things above experienced again but by his teammates and staff who have also worked tirelessly to assist him in having the best chance of winning, it is perhaps unsurprising to see the UAE Team Emirates star view it as his obligation to team, sponsors, teammates, staff and himself to always go for the win if he can, regardless of if some express their discontent.

From the reaction to the discourse online it appears most are accepting of this. Vingegaard is too, the two-time Tour winner telling Europsort’s TV cameras afterwards: “I had hoped he might let me have the stage win, but I was pushing so hard that if he sprinted, I stood no chance. I was at my limit and could only hope. But that is cycling, and I hold no grudge. I’d probably do the same. I’m pleased with my performance today and my comeback from yesterday.”

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Today’s 21st stage of the race, in Nice due to the Olympics preparation meaning Paris is somewhat occupied elsewhere, is a 33.7km time trial from Monaco on roads that will be familiar to many on the startlist, not least Pogačar who joked his partner Urška Žigart is sick of having to ride the route during their training sessions at home.

It features the eight-kilometre-long La Turbie climb, followed by the Col d’Eze familiar from Paris-Nice and should see the top three on GC once again battle it out for stage honours. Will Pogačar make it six? Can either Evenepoel or Vingegaard stop him to take their second win of the race? Will an outsider away from the GC fight, perhaps even with marginally fresher legs, spoil their day?