Will it be another battle of the giants between Tadej Pogacar (front) and Jonas Vingegaard (left)?
Image: Keystone
Last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard makes his comeback after his serious crash in April
Image: Keystone
After his superior victory at the Giro, Tadej Pogacar is aiming for the rare double of winning the Giro and Tour
Image: Keystone
Primoz Roglic, recent winner of the Tour of the Dauphiné, is probably Pogacar's biggest rival
Image: Keystone
Remco Evenepoel, winner of the 2022 Vuelta in Spain, is contesting his first Tour de France
Image: Keystone
Will it be another battle of the giants between Tadej Pogacar (front) and Jonas Vingegaard (left)?
Image: Keystone
Last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard makes his comeback after his serious crash in April
Image: Keystone
After his superior victory at the Giro, Tadej Pogacar is aiming for the rare double of winning the Giro and Tour
Image: Keystone
Primoz Roglic, recent winner of the Tour of the Dauphiné, is probably Pogacar's biggest rival
Image: Keystone
Remco Evenepoel, winner of the 2022 Vuelta in Spain, is contesting his first Tour de France
Image: Keystone
The Tour de France is a guarantee for spectacle, especially this year. The battle for the maillot jaune is likely to be dominated by four exceptional athletes who have never met before this year.
28.06.2024, 04:31
28.06.2024, 07:03
SDA
Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic - they all have the Tour de France firmly marked on their racing calendars this year. In recent weeks, however, the four chosen protagonists of the world's most famous cycling race have been forced to take different paths.
This was triggered by a devastating mass crash at the Tour of the Basque Country at the beginning of April, in which Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic were all involved. While the latter made their comeback at the Tour of the Dauphiné at the beginning of the month, Vingegaard is completely lacking in racing practice for his Tour hat-trick mission. After his triumph at the Giro d'Italia, Pogacar focused on recovery and training at altitude.
Form check of the "Big 4" ahead of the Grand Départ.
Jonas Vingegaard: The great uncertainty
For a long time it was unclear whether Jonas Vingegaard would be able to start the 111th Tour de France in Florence on Saturday. The crash injuries that the Dane suffered in the Basque Country almost three months ago were severe: broken collarbone, broken ribs, pneumothorax. After a twelve-day stay in a spiral, it took another three weeks before he got back on his bike for the first time on May 7. The race against time began.
His team Visma-Lease a Bike always emphasized that Vingegaard would only start when he was "100 percent fit". After an altitude training camp in Tignes in Savoy, he finally got the go-ahead for his comeback last week. However, the question marks over his form remain. How good can his condition be with such limited preparation? The performance data from the training sessions should have provided the 27-year-old with clues to answer this question. Cycling fans, on the other hand, will probably have to wait for the competition to put him to the test for the first time. Should Vingegaard actually triumph for the third time in a row, it would undoubtedly be his greatest success.
Tadej Pogacar: The hunted again this time
Tadej Pogacar, who found himself in a similar situation to Vingegaard a year ago after suffering a scaphoid fracture, has gradually moved into the role of top favorite in recent weeks. After his impressive performance at the Giro, which he won with a lead of almost ten minutes, his rivals have been warned. All the more so because the Slovenian can count on a very strong team for the "Grande Boucle".
But despite all the optimism in the UAE Emirates team, the question remains as to how well Pogacar will cope with the strain of two Grand Tours in a row. So far, everything seems to be going according to plan. According to his own statements, the Giro victory has not cost him too much energy. In the immediate preparation for the Tour, however, he had to cope with a health setback. "I fell ill ten days ago. I had Covid, which was a bit of a question mark, but I've recovered well and am fully fit again," reported the Slovenian on Thursday.
After winning the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, Pogacar was beaten by Vingegaard in the last two years, who proved to be superior at high altitude. If Pogacar stays healthy and is spared any serious crashes, there is much to suggest that he will be the first rider since 1998 to complete the double of the Giro and Tour in the same year.
Primoz Roglic: Out of the shadows
Primoz Roglic currently appears to be the main rival of Pogacar, his Slovenian compatriot who took the yellow jersey from him on the penultimate day of the 2020 Tour de France. At the age of 34, Roglic has once again decided on a change of scenery for his ultimate goal. He has left the successful Visma team to step out of Vingegaard's shadow. Team Bora-Hansgrohe has given him the chance to once again aim for victory in the Tour de France, the only grand tour he has not yet won.
After his fresh start, Roglic soon suffered his first setback with a crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, but unlike Vingegaard, he got off relatively lightly with burns and abrasions. His return to the Critérium du Dauphiné was very promising. With two stage wins and the overall victory, Roglic gained the necessary self-confidence for the upcoming Herculean task in the immediate preparation. And who knows: perhaps with the help of the new team main sponsor Red Bull, Roglic will succeed in outdoing his opponents in the mountains.
Remco Evenepoel: The big puzzle
The Tour de France is new territory for Remco Evenepoel. So far, the 24-year-old Belgian has competed in four three-week tours and triumphed at the Vuelta in 2022. He is cautious ahead of his Tour debut. "My plan is to discover the race, take it day by day and then see where it takes us," said the time trial world champion from Team Soudal Quick-Step, who, like Vingegaard, had to undergo surgery in April due to the consequences of the crash (broken collarbone and a broken shoulder blade).
However, Evenepoel recovered faster than the Dane and was able to make his comeback at the Dauphiné. He left an ambivalent impression. His victory in the time trial was followed by difficult days in the mountains (after another fall on his damaged shoulder), where he was unable to keep up with the best. In the end, Evenepoel finished in 7th place - with "85 percent form", as he himself analyzed. For the rendez-vous of the great cycling tenors, however, 100 percent will be necessary.
