Tour de France 2025: 'If there's one rider that can, it's Jonas Vingegaard' - Alberto Contador explains how Visma-Lease a Bike can stop Tadej Pogacar
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Published 30/06/2025 at 17:59 GMT+1
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The 2025 Tour de France is now less than a week away, with the Grand Depart set to begin in Lille on Saturday, July 5, live on TNT Sports and discovery+. Three-time winner Tadej Pogacar enters as the favourite, and TNT Sports expert Alberto Contador believes Visma–Lease a Bike will need to create "difficult situations" if they are to have any chance of stopping him from defending his title.
'I think Tadej will be very good in the Tour' - Vingegaard wary of rival Pogacar's form
Video credit: TNT Sports
Visma-Lease a Bike will need to create "difficult situations" if they are to stop Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) from defending his Tour de France title, claims TNT Sports expert Alberto Contador.
The Slovenian star is chasing a fourth Tour victory, having won three of the last five editions of cycling’s most-prestigious race.
He claims to have had a "close to perfect preparation" for the 2025 event, which gets underway on Saturday, July 5, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Pogacar, 26, is a strong favourite after producing a dominant display at Criterium du Dauphine.
However, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) will be doing all they can to get their hands on the coveted yellow jersey.
"That will be very difficult," said Contador, a two-time Tour winner in 2007 and 2009, who is backing Pogacar to do the business on the biggest stage.
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"But if there is one rider who can do it on the Tour de France, it’s Jonas Vingegaard.
"Will it be easy? No. We are witnessing a Tadej Pogacar, that year by year gets stronger, more solid and more consistent.
"But Jonas Vingegaard does know what it means to win the Tour de France. He knows what it is to go head-to-head against Tadej Pogacar.
"He is a rider who is obsessed with the Tour de France, so if there is one rider who could do it, it’s Jonas Vingegaard."
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'Nobody can live with Pogacar' - 'Peerless' yellow jersey cruises to Stage 7 win
Video credit: TNT Sports
How can Visma beat Pogacar?
Vingegaard’s two Tour de France victories came back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, with Pogacar finishing one place behind him in the general classification both times.
This year, Vingegaard will be flanked by Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Simon Yates, Sepp Kuss, Tiesj Benoot, Victor Campenaerts and Edoardo Affini as part of a super squad announced by Visma.
"I think most importantly they need to make use of their whole team," added Contador.
"That could involve putting riders in breakaways, etc. We have seen in recent times that one versus one, Vingegaard is losing the battle vs Pogacar, so the team have to be tactical and create difficult situations.
"It won’t be easy as UAE Team Emirates also have an extremely strong team, but they need to try and make Tadej Pogacar ride and exert energy where he normally shouldn’t have to.
"Another important factor in my opinion will be to try and ride the mountain stages with consecutive climbs at a high pace. Why? Because Jonas Vingegaard is more of a pure climber than Tadej Pogacar.
"Pogacar is talent, he is power, he is watts, but he doesn’t have a pure climber’s body."
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What about Remco Evenepoel?
Following his gutsy debut in 2024, Evenepoel returns to the Tour de France stronger and more experienced.
He has made it clear that closing the gap to Pogacar and Vingegaard is now his top priority, calling it "the ambition of my career" to one day surpass them.
Contador has called Evenepoel an "extremely solid rider", but believes there is more work to be done before he can think about catching the top two.
"Looking at the parcours, it is possible he takes the yellow jersey, but he still needs to evolve to compete with Tadej Pogacar especially," Contador said.
"Tadej Pogacar right now is at a higher level, so I think it will be complicated in this edition of the Tour. But in the future? Perhaps."
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Evenepoel pinpoints where he needs to improve to close gap to Pogacar ahead of Tour de France
Video credit: TNT Sports
Pogacar’s biggest worry?
Pogacar also has a strong team behind him, with UAE featuring Britain’s Adam Yates and Tour de Suisse champion Joao Almeida, alongside Marc Soler, Nils Politt, Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narvaez.
In addition to his Criterium du Dauphine victory, he noted a great altitude camp with his team-mates saying, "the vibes in the team are amazing right now."
Pogacar also won the UAE Tour this year, alongside one-day race victories at the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Strade Bianche and La Fleche Wallonne.
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Tadej Pogacar has won the Tour de France three times in his stellar career
Image credit: Getty Images
"I think Pogacar’s biggest concern will be if he has a bad day," said Contador.
"We always talk about it on the Grand Tours, you always have a bad day, so he will need to try and save a day like that if it happens. I think that is what should worry him the most.
"There are always other factors too, like crashes, like not paying attention to food. Mistakes can be made, there is a lot of pressure and tension, even though it sounds like something obvious, but anyone can make a little error.
"If he does have a bad day, he needs to try and save it as best as possible or even try and make it go unnoticed by his rivals."
Stage 1 of the Tour de France is a flat one, starting and finishing in Lille.
The three weeks of action will feature a mix of flat, hilly and mountain stages, as well as time trials, before culminating with the iconic Champs-Elysees finish in Paris on Sunday, July 27.
Stream the 2025 Tour de France live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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