UAE warns Vingegaard’s Giro dominance could give Pogacar extra fire for the Tour

His performance has not gone unnoticed at UAE Team Emirates-XRG. According to sports director Marco Marcato, Tadej Pogačar has naturally been watching his biggest rival’s progress closely.

“Of course. Everyone watches each other and keeps track of what the others are doing. It is about looking at the overall level of the performance. In my view, Vingegaard’s Giro could give Tadej extra motivation to arrive at the Tour in the best possible shape,” Marcato said to Feltet.

Marcato was full of praise for the way Vingegaard controlled the race. In his eyes, the Dane proved beyond doubt that he was the strongest rider in this year’s Giro.

“He showed that he was the strongest in the Giro and he deserves this victory. He did everything perfectly.”

Last week, UAE Team Emirates-XRG sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez already reflected on the Dane's performance en vergeleek het ook met de Giro overwinning van Pogačar in 2024.

“You can interpret it partly that he has been dominating the Giro but also doing it in a slightly more conservative way,” Matxin said to Domestique. “In other words, he’s looking to minimise his effort while maximising his performance. And he’s doing that openly, so he can get to the Tour without having done too much work or made too many sacrifices. But in the end, his performance shows that he wins and that he’s one of the best cyclists in the world.”

Vingegaard will now turn his attention to the Tour de France. After a short period of recovery, he is expected to head to altitude training in Tignes with his teammates. His dominant display in Italy is therefore the last major performance Pogačar and UAE will have seen before the final phase of their Tour preparation.

Marcato expects the Tour to deliver another compelling battle between the leading general classification contenders. Alongside Pogačar and Vingegaard, he also pointed to the rise of young Paul Seixas, who is increasingly being viewed as a future force in stage racing.

“With Pogačar, Jonas and young Paul, we are going to see some fantastic battles. It will be very interesting,” he said.

Pogačar is set to return to racing at the Tour de Suisse. The Slovenian has not competed since his dominant overall victory at the Tour de Romandie earlier this spring, making Switzerland his final major test before the Tour.