‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ – Can anyone stop peerless Tadej Pogacar at 2025 Tour de France?
Published 24/06/2025 at 12:21 GMT+1
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It's one of the hardest puzzles to solve in world sport - how do you beat Tadej Pogacar in a cycling race? Pogacar is the clear favourite to reign supreme once again at the forthcoming Tour de France and clinch his fourth overall title at the iconic Grand Tour. The 2025 Tour kicks off on July 5 and finishes on July 27, with all the action live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe chief Dan Lorang has admitted it is tough to see a way to beat Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) ahead of the Slovenian superstar’s Tour de France defence.
Pogacar is the overwhelming favourite as cycling’s yearly showpiece nears, with coverage of all the action from July 5-27, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Pogacar will likely have Slovenian compatriot and Red Bull rider Primoz Roglic among his rivals at the Tour, but after more impressive feats in 2025, can anyone get near him?
Speaking to Velo, Red Bull's head of performance Lorang said: "We have to admit that Pogacar is one level above.
"We have to accept that’s how it is, and we cannot negotiate it.
"It’s hard to go into a race and say, ‘OK, when Pogacar goes, we follow’. We’re seeing again and again that it’s just not always possible.
"And it’s hard to know what we can do against it."
A three-time Tour de France champion, Pogacar has already enjoyed a successful 2025 campaign, picking up wins at the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, La Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
The 26-year-old also took an impressive victory in his maiden appearance at the Criterium du Dauphine, which perhaps sent his rivals the most ominous warning yet ahead of the Tour.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
For the first time this year, the Dauphine saw Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) go toe-to-toe and what transpired only highlighted the gulf that seems to exist between the Slovenian and the rest.
Vingegaard managed to get the better of his rival at the 2022 and 2023 Tours thanks to his prowess on the long, gruelling climbs, but Pogacar now appears to have redressed that perceived imbalance.
Several times Vingegaard tried to attack at the Dauphine and each time he was reeled back in, while Pogacar was able to drop the Dane when he decided to crank it up.
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Not only that, but Pogacar is making what would be a brutal effort for mere mortals look fairly easy.
He is not faultless, though, and has shown some recent fallibility when it comes to time trials.
However, if anyone is to beat him into the iconic yellow jersey at the end of July, it is going to have to be a massive team effort.
"What you can instead do is play strong and use tactical cards, which we tried in the classics," Lorang added.
"If you get things right, we’ve seen having numbers up the road for the final can count.
"Pogacar is so impressive, but he cannot do everything. We’ve seen that before. We can try to ride clever as a team. But when it comes to one-to-one, we’ve seen there are a few guys who are just a totally different level at the moment.
"There’s no clear solution for us on that. All that us in the performance team can do is work hard and make our guys strong enough to use numbers or create surprises, like we did in the classics.
"But it feels like there won’t be so many surprises this year. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry."
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Stream the 2025 Tour de France live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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