POGACAR FLATTENS VISMA IN TOUR DE FRANCE 2025: “WE TRIED EVERYTHING BUT IT WAS USELESS” – THE DAY ZEEMAN CRACKED
The 2025 Tour de France may be remembered as the year Tadej Pogacar didn’t just win — he annihilated. In a crushing display of dominance, the Slovenian superstar tore apart not just the peloton, but also the morale and strategy of his fiercest rivals at Visma-Lease a Bike. While many expected a late surge from Jonas Vingegaard after his miraculous return from injury, what they got instead was a full-blown collapse that unfolded in front of the cycling world’s eyes.
Stage after stage, Pogacar was relentless. But it was Stage 17 that delivered the final nail. The Slovenian exploded on the final climb, dancing on the pedals while Vingegaard grimaced in desperation. It wasn’t even a duel — it was a demolition. Behind the scenes, chaos unraveled in the Visma camp. What was once Europe’s most tactical, calculated powerhouse had become a shadow of itself. Team director Merijn Zeeman, usually the architect of surgical precision, appeared hollow in the post-stage press conference. He uttered just nine words: “We tried everything… but it was useless against him.” The message was not just a concession — it was an obituary for their 2025 Tour ambitions.
Fans and experts alike were stunned. Visma’s strategy, long hailed as the blueprint for Tour success, crumbled under Pogacar’s onslaught. The so-called “defensive triangle” built around Vingegaard failed to materialize. Sepp Kuss was out of rhythm, Matteo Jorgenson dropped early, and Wout van Aert was clearly not in peak form. Without support and with tactics backfiring, Vingegaard was isolated — and Pogacar knew it.
As Pogacar powered to the summit, commentators didn’t speak. They gasped. It wasn’t just another stage win. It was a moment of reckoning. The balance of power had shifted. Gone were the days when Visma dictated pace and owned the Alps. Now, they chased shadows.
Social media erupted. Clips of Zeeman’s broken statement trended across platforms. “Pogacar broke Visma,” one fan tweeted. Another wrote: “This was psychological warfare, and Pogacar destroyed their souls.” And truthfully, the visual told the same story. Pogacar, unbothered, waved to the crowd. Behind him, Vingegaard slumped over his handlebars, defeated not by the road but by the man who turned it into his personal runway.
This stage wasn’t just about watts or tactics. It was about identity. Pogacar reclaimed the narrative that Visma tried to own over the past two seasons. And while Vingegaard’s recovery and participation were commendable, it is now brutally clear — he came back too soon, or Pogacar simply never left.
With only a few stages left in the 2025 Tour, fans are no longer asking if Pogacar will win. The question now is how much pain he plans to inflict on the rest before Paris. For Visma, the once-unshakable machine, the race goes on. But their myth has been shattered.
In the end, Zeeman’s nine words say it all. The Tour de France 2025 was not lost because of one bad day or one missed wheel. It was lost because Tadej Pogacar made Visma — and the rest of the world — believe that nothing was ever enough against him.
