Tour De France Riders And Teams Can’t Stop Talking About One Another’s Balls

For a moment, it appeared that the 2024 Tour de France was going to be one giant letdown after a ton of hype leading up.

But Wednesday’s 11th stage showed that an enormous battle appears to be shaping up between rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.

So, what is everyone talking about after the stage? The riders’ balls, naturally.

Let’s start with some backstory.

Vingegaard is the two-time defending Tour de France champion. The Danish rider finished ahead of Pogacar in both 2023, and 2022. While Pogacar won both the 2020 and 2021 editions of the race.

Joining them in the race is Vingegaard’s former teammate and 2020 runner-up Primoz Roglic as well as young Belgian star Remco Evenepoel.

Those four make up a quartet of riders everyone expected to compete for the podium and the victory.

On Sunday’s ninth stage, which ended in Troyes, Pogacar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard were briefly able to ride away from Roglic. But while Pogacar and Evenepoel pushed on, Vingegaard just sat in their wheel and benefited from the draft.

Ultimately, Roglic came back.

Remco Evenepoel Called Out Jonas Vingegaard’s Manhood At Tour De France

Vingegaard, a significantly lighter rider than Pogacar and Evenepoel, risked losing time to them if he had raced more aggressively. But Evenepoel didn’t see things that way.

“We have to accept race tactics and race situations, but sometimes you also need the balls to race, and unfortunately maybe Jonas didn’t have them today,” Evenepoel said after the stage.

Vingegaard, rightly, didn’t see it the same way.

“We were mainly focused on not losing time,” he said. “If I had gone with those two and they had left me behind on that sector where I had to let Pogačar ride a bit later, I would have lost the Tour yesterday. It wasn’t a lack of ‘balls’, I just rode smart.”

Fast forward to Wednesday. Pogacar attacked in the final part of Stage 11, creating a gap to all three of his rivals. Vingegaard and Roglic tried to respond, while Evenepoel was left behind.

Pogacar’s gap extended out to nearly 30 seconds before Vingegaard, by himself, clawed it back and went on to win the stage in a sprint. He also gained valuable time on both Roglic and Evenepoel.

After the stage, Michał Szyszkowski, a member of Vingegaard’s team staff, tweeted “I hope every one see we show balls.”

Owned.

Pogacar still holds a 1:06 lead over Evenepoel in second and 1:14 over Vingegaard in third, with Roglic 2:15 back. But Saturday and Sunday look like the hardest stages of the tour and it appears the reigning champ is trending in the right direction at the perfect time.