Rivalry in cycling history has often been extinguished thanks to the passing of a water bottle during the race. Images of Coppi and Bartali immediately come to mind, and that Tour de France of 1952 with that gesture of fair play during the ascent of Col du Galiber.

Today, times have changed and everything has become faster and more nervous: the tension between the leaders of the Grande Boucle can be measured even in the supply zone. Since the Tour de France began, the relationship between Pogacar and Vingegaard has always been somewhat tense, and what happened last Friday in the stage towards the Mûr de Bretagne in the supply zone is just another episode in a series that began last week. This time the controversy was between Pogacar and Jorgenson due to water bottles in the supply zone.

Both wanted to take a water bottle, but things did not go smoothly, because Pogacar would have pushed Jorgenson from Visma-Lease a Bike. "It's like this," Pogacar said yesterday without mincing words. "We arrived at the supply zone, we lined up, and I signaled to want to take a water bottle from my team's man, who was about twenty meters behind the Visma-Lease a Bike guy. Yet they (Visma-Lease a Bike) decided to overtake me on my right. If I wanted to take my water bottle, I had to push them by force."

The yellow jersey said it without beating around the bush, with calm tones but from which a certain irritation emerged. "I thought my push was perfectly normal, even if I don't know what their plan was. It's not the first time, they do it very often, as if they were the only ones who should take a water bottle. Sometimes you have to be patient and respect each other."

Respect should always be present during the race, but apparently sometimes words become less flattering and hands push too hard. Jorgenson was also asked yesterday to comment on that gesture that initially had not been noticed by the media, but the American decided not to make any statements about the incident.

Grischa Niermann, the Visma-Lease a Bike sports director, responded to the episode and tried to defuse the tension. Niermann defined it as a normal incident and said that for them there is no problem. "Matteo wanted to take a water bottle, and apparently so did Tadej. Perhaps we should tell our soigneurs to stay a bit further apart from now on. In the end, Matteo also missed his water bottle."

Grischa Niermann then wanted to address the respect issue raised by Pogacar and in this regard, he wanted to make a clear reference to the note that the Slovenian made about the tactics used in the race by his team. "I'm saying to use respect, and that's what I'm telling him. We only use the tactics we consider best for the team, and he - referring to Pogacar - must decide for himself what to do with it."

On Thursday at the end of the stage, the Slovenian had already deplored the tactics of the Visma riders, stating in particular that their strategy for the day made no sense. At the beginning of the Tour, a few too many words were also exchanged, but both Pogacar and Vingegaard have always declared that between them there is only the utmost respect.