Such is the size of the Tour de France, every micro-incident involving the key favourites is analysed to the maximum, with the latest being Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) appearing to push Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) at a feed zone during the seventh stage to Mûr-de-Bretagne.
It was all the talk at the start of the eighth day in Saint-Méen-le-Grande, with both the World Champion and Visma's key lieutenant to Jonas Vingegaard responding after footage was shared several times on social media late on Friday.
Pogačar confirmed he had given Jorgenson a push after he came up the inside of him to get a bottle in the final 15km of stage 7, but also said it was no surprise from Visma's riders, saying that it wasn't the first time an incident such as this had occured.
"There was a feed zone, and we were riding in one line. I showed intention to go for my bottle from my soigneur, who was like 20 metres after Visma," said Pogačar into ITV's microphone.
"But they decided to pass us on the right side, so if I wanted to take a bottle, I could not do anything else but give him a little push, so I could get my bottle."
Pogačar called for more respect in the peloton after the bizarre feed zone moment was blown up much bigger than it perhaps should have been. Nonetheless, the drama between cycling's two biggest teams continued.
"For me, it was normal, but I don't know what their intention was. They do this a lot of times, coming in front of you in a feed zone, like they are the only ones having the bottles there," said Pogačar.
"Sometimes you have to be patient and stay on the wheel when you're taking the bottles, and pay respect to everybody."
Jorgenson was less talkative when he arrived at the mixed zone before stage 8, simply telling those who had posed the question: "I don't need to comment publicly, I think, but I missed a bottle…"
Visma's Head of Racing Grischa Niermann played it down at the finish when he was asked again about the moment, putting it to bed after a paint-by-numbers sprint stage 8 saw the questions continue to be asked.
"I think it's a normal incident. Matteo wanted to take a bottle; apparently, Tadej also wanted to take one. Maybe we should tell our soigneurs to stand a little bit further apart from each other," said Niermann.
"I think like this, they both didn't get a bottle, because Matteo also didn't get his – that's a pity."
What did he make of Pogačar saying they need more respect? "The same back to him," replied Niermann, bluntly.
Pogačar had refined his comments about the bidon incident when reporters continued to try and find out what exactly had happened, and what it means in terms of the rivalry, after he finished safely into Laval.
"I've been racing against [Visma] for six years now, of course, there's going to be some tension always, but in my eyes, I always respect them. They are one of the best teams in the world," said Pogačar of the Dutch team.
"I feel like they come in a lot of times when it's a feed zone. Of course, everybody wants to take a bottle, everybody was there 12k to go for the final bottle, obviously we want it also.
"Visma was coming on the right, what now? You cannot jump across to grab a bottle, so I pushed him a bit to get a bit of space so I could grab my bottle – that's it."
Rivalry
UAE Emirates-XRG CEO Mauro Gianetti wasn't interested in dwelling on the minor moment as he spoke to Cyclingnews and Daniel Benson's Substack after stage 8, opting to focus on the positives of the rivalry.
"No, but this is something happening in the race. When you are in the race, it is a really nice competition," said Gianetti by the team bus.
"We push each other to be better, to be concentrated, and it is a nice challenge. A few years ago, they were beating us, sometimes we beat them, and now we are beating but they are very close."
Do they play fair? "They do their plan, they do their race, yeah sure," he added.
The rivalry will continue to play out as one of the key storylines of this year's Tour, especially with Vingegaard, Pogačar and everyone else involved with the two super teams to be on tenterhooks as the two favourites once again do battle in the high mountains.
Niermann acknowledges that the respect is there, but that the media is perhaps blowing up all the minor moments to turn the rivalry into a feud that it is not, yet anyway. Comments are circulating negatively about the Dutch outfit, and he confirmed that he has seen them, but Visma's head of racing believes things are all being blown out of proportion.
"At the Tour de France, everything is blown up a lot, and of course its nice for the media theirs a rivalry, which there is of course, but when Tadej wins, I go to Andrej and Matxin [UAE's key sports directors] and congratulate them," Niermann told Cyclingnews and Velo before stage 8.
"It's also the other way around. It's a big fight, and it's really nice for the fans that it's not everyone rolling out the red carpet for Tadej. There is a little bit of a fight, and we will go on and try everything.
"I think theres a lot of respect in the peloton, and in the Tour de France there is so much media and they need some stories, and I also read that the whole peloton hates us now or whatever, so everything is blown up or whatever, and we have to deal with that."
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