Barcelona (AFP) – Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar said on Thursday that his rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard is pushing both riders "to new heights".
Issued on: 02/07/2026 - 20:34
2 min Reading time
The pair have won the last six editions of the Tour de France between them, and have finished first and second in each of the last five -- something which had never happened before.Slovenian Pogacar has four Tour wins to Vingegaard's two but the Dane has won all three of cycling's Grand Tours following his Giro d'Italia victory in May.World champion Pogacar has yet to win the Vuelta a Espana, where he finished third in his only appearance in 2019.And the 27-year-old insisted that the Tour is not going to be a straight fight between him and Vingegaard, 29, pointing to his own UEA Team Emirates team-mate Isaac del Toro as a potential challenger."I don't think that he's the only one that can come close," Pogacar said about Vingegaard."I think that there are quite a few guys here that can aim for the victory, right next to me," he added at Thursday's pre-Tour press conference, indicating Mexican Del Toro."But the competition between me and Jonas, of course, the last few years was spectacular."And I think it will continue for a few more years, I hope. We will see."I think we push each other to the new heights every year. So we will see how far we go this year."'Better and stronger'Although Vingegaard has beaten Pogacar at the Tour twice -- in 2022 and 2023 -- the general feeling is that the Slovenian has stepped up a level since then.He is aiming for a record-equalling fifth Tour triumph this year.
