'No animosity' – But UAE-Visma rivalry continues to very end of Tour

The Tour de France was already won but the duel between UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike continued on stage 20 to Pontarlier, where Tim Wellens and Matteo Jorgenson seemed to mark one another out of the winning break.

The pair were, by reputation at least, among the strongest riders in the sizeable move of the day, but they had to settle for eighth and ninth place as Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) soloed to stage victory.

Wellens and Jorgenson marked one another’s attacks closely in the break, and they could be seen in conversation at one point on the road, but after the stage each rider insisted his tactics were based on the other rider’s strength rather than the jersey on his back.

Speaking to Sporza, Wellens downplayed the idea that UAE-Visma tensions had played a part in his and Jorgenson’s actions on the road to Pontarlier.

“No, Matteo and I were kind of stuck together,” Wellens said. “Matteo had attacked and put me right on the limit. Then the rest rode away and we were left together.

“We recovered well, even after that, but everyone ends up in the position they deserve. So no, there was no disagreement. The problem was mainly that we rode so hard together at the beginning that we ended up killing ourselves.”

Jorgenson also denied that there had been any disagreement with Wellens during their time in the break. 

“I don’t know about the beef, I don’t think it exists,” Jorgenson said, according to Cycling Weekly. “I’m sure it makes for good headlines, but Tim and I... We just wanted to be in the break clearly today and we showed our cards quite early. Already to get in the break we used up all our bullets and we didn't have a lot left because it has been a long Tour, and we've both done a lot for our teams. In the end, we found ourselves dropped together. There was no animosity between us."

Jorgenson reportedly spoke to Wellens outside the UAE bus following the stage, but he explained that it was a clearing of the air rather than an argument.

“Two defeated men talking: we didn't have much air to speak in the race so I just wanted to tell him that I wasn't playing games, and he also wasn’t,” Jorgenson said. “We were just trying our best.”

Wellens was already a stage winner in Carcassonne on stage 15 and played a key role in Tadej Pogačar’s overall victory, while Jorgenson has endured a frustrating Tour. The American will ride into Paris on Sunday in 19th place overall, while his leader Jonas Vingegaard again had to settle for second behind Pogačar.

On stage 7, Jorgenson was pushed by Pogačar at a feed zone, with the Slovenian later claiming that he had been impeded by the Visma rider as he tried to take a bottle. A week later on the road to Carcassonne, Pogačar thwarted Jorgenson’s attempts to enter the break of the day, while the yellow jersey also regularly made pointed criticism of Visma’s tactical approach.

This Tour is sixth in succession that will finish with Pogačar and a Visma rider occupying the top two places overall. Pogačar beat compatriot Primož Roglič to yellow in 2020 and then defeated Vingegaard in 2021, 2024 and 2025. Vingegaard won the 2022 and 2023 Tours ahead of Pogačar.

At this year’s Giro d’Italia, Visma’s Simon Yates took the pink jersey from UAE’s Isaac del Toro on the final weekend. Vingegaard has since confirmed that he will ride the Vuelta a España, where João Almeida will line up for UAE – and so might Pogačar. The rivalry will not end in Paris, in other words.