There has been almost nothing to separate Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard over the course of the first two stages at the 2025 Tour de France, with just 2 bonus seconds in the Slovenian’s favour as the only gap created. Although that leaves Vingegaard ever so slightly behind his great rival in the GC, according to EF Education-EasyPost boss Jonathan Vaughters, it is the Dane who has the psychological advantage.
“I feel like Jonas would have usually finished 10th or 15th [on a stage like that],” the American team boss reflects on a thrilling stage 2 finale that saw Mathieu van der Poel win the stage ahead of Pogacar in 2nd and Vingegaard in 3rd, on TNT Sports’ post-race analysis show – The Breakaway.“He’d have been in that [lead] group, hanging on, reliant more on the fact that he’s a big aerobic engine but doesn’t have that punch,” Vaughters adds. “The fact that he had that much of a punch means he’s got a lot more in the tank than we think.”Joining Vaughters on The Breakaway was four-time Tour de France stage winner and great friend of Pogacar, Michael Matthews. That Aussie had hoped to be in the peloton at the 2025 Tour, but signs of a pulmonary embolism at a pre-race altitude training camp have put his career on hold for the foreseeable future.He too though, has seen positive signs from Vingegaard in the early stages. “This year he’s come with this relaxed attitude, where he’s just like, ‘I’m just gonna race my bike and see what happens’, and not [be] so calculated, which is a little bit scary, but also very exciting to watch,” says the Team Jayco AlUla star. “Normally, he’s quite tight and a bit like Primoz Roglic and now he’s just like, ‘I wanna race my bike, let’s go, let’s go for it, boys, let’s have some fun’.”“I think it’s also a little bit of a psychological battle,” Vaughters adds in conclusion. “He’s showing Tadej he has a punch too. Between the two of them, you know, they’re very equally matched in terms of steady power but Tadej always has the better punch. Well, Jonas is getting a couple of little blows in just saying, ‘hey, you know, I can do that too’. Was he ever going to gain that much time today with those attacks? No, probably not, but was it a psychological hit? Yes it was.”
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