PARIS — Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar said that his rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard is pushing both riders “to new heights”.
The pair has won the last six editions of the Tour de France between them, and has 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 teammate 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 pre-Tour press conference, indicating Mexican Del Toro.
“But the competition between me and Jonas, of course, the last few years was spectacular,” he added according to AFP.
“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.”
