They have never competed in the same race together. Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel, Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel will start the Tour de France on Saturday in Florence. Between the six of them, they should win a large number of stage victories.
The Slovenian is probably the big favourite for this Tour de France. Winner of the Giro, he hopes to achieve the double and become the eighth rider to do so. To help him, Team UAE Emirates has provided him with an XXL team including Adam Yates and Joao Almeida, the first two of the last Tour de Suisse, the Spaniards Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov.
But Tadej Pogacar will have competition from Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the last two Tours de France, Remco Evenepoel, winner of the last Vuelta and Primoz Roglic who won the Giro in 2023.
The four big favorites of the Tour have not all had an ideal preparation. Jonas Vingegaard has not raced since the beginning of April and his terrible fall on the Tour of the Basque Country. The Dane is therefore returning to competition on this Tour de France, but who knows what physical form he will display? He will nevertheless be able to count on his model teammate Wout Van Aert, but will have to do without his faithful lieutenant Sepp Kuss, victim of a Covid 19 infection.
Primoz Roglic was also forced to retire from the Tour du Pays Basque, but was able to return to competition earlier, on the Critérium du Dauphiné. He also won this race, considered a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France. Remco Evenepoel finished in 7th place in the general classification, who like his two opponents had fallen and abandoned the Tour of the Basque Country (definitely).
As for Tadej Pogacar, his preparation was perfect until ten days ago. The Slovenian was affected by Covid 19, but he says he has recovered. To have…
The two Classics specialists will have the opportunity to compete against each other on the Grande Boucle. A few stages seem destined for their punching qualities, notably the first, even if the flat finish seems to favor the Visma rider. Wout Van Aert nevertheless arrives in uncertain form. He himself announced that he had never started the Tour de France in such indecisive form.
The Belgian was not initially supposed to participate in the Grande Boucle, he whose objective for his season is the Olympic Games in Paris. But his fall in Flanders at the end of March thwarted his plans. The Tour should allow him to get back on his feet before the Olympics.
Physically, Mathieu Van der Poel has the advantage. This year, Raymond Poulidor’s grandson won three Classics, including the Tour of Flanders. He should logically be able to fight for the stage victory on the few stages promised to the punchers. For the rest of the flat stages, he will be at the service of his sprinter Jasper Philipsen.
