The gloves are not quite off, but tension is brewing: after six years of being amicable towards each other during their captivating Tour de France tussle, Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG have now begun to trade verbal and physical blows.
Ahead of the looming mountain tests that will determine the winner of this year’s race, Tadej Pogačar has become visibly irritated with Visma’s tactics in recent days, which seemed designed to put the Slovenian back into yellow, even though he might have preferred someone else to have it on the flatter transition days south.
