Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) has had a couple of frustrating days at the Tour de France, where he was in contention to win but had to settle for 2nd and 5th. However, the Belgian has also been the subject of comments from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Pogačar appeared to mock Van Aert's mini tantrum at the end of stage 2, when he swiped the air in frustration at missing victory, behind late attacker Victor Lafay (Cofidis).
Pogačar mimicked Van Aert's swiping action (video above) for the benefit of his team mate Adam Yates in the warm down area, much to his own amusement. He was also recorded calling Van Aert's actions "childish".
And yesterday, after Van Aert backed off in the sprint - when he came close to crashing between Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and the roadside barriers - Pogačar once again commented on the Belgian rider. He said Van Aert backed off because he didn't have the legs to win.
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Though Pogačar tends to be playful with his rivals, rather than his comments having any obvious edge to them, the remarks were put to Van Aert at the start of today's stage 4. He replied he would respond "with the pedals".
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It's not the first time Pogačar has made comments relating to Van Aert which, while they seem jocular, they may also unsettle a rival. Last year, when Van Aert won stage 4 of the Tour into Calais, Pogačar spoke to Van Aert in the warm down area and almost thanked him for dropping his own team mate, Jonas Vingegaard, on the final climb.
"It's good that you dropped your guys also. I was lucky!" he told Van Aert at the time, see video below.
Van Aert also took the time this morning to comment on Philipsen's winning sprint yesterday, which was reviewed by the race jury. The changing direction of the road, and the barriers, were also a factor in the sprint and while Philipsen moved a little to his right, squeezing Van Aert, his win stood.
Yesterday, Van Aert said he would leave it to others to decide if Philipsen's sprint was fair but this morning he went further. He said he was surprised the result was allowed to stand and believed the jury was reluctant to take action against Philipsen because of the unusual finish set-up.
"Jasper was happy that I was sitting there next to him yesterday, because if it had been a sprinter like Sagan, he would undoubtedly have had (an incident)," said Van Aert.
"Jasper sprinted to the right, because it's the shortest way, but when he sensed me, he deviated a bit more. It was debatable, but the finish (lay-out) itself was debatable. That may be why the jury did nothing."
