the essential
A first Tour for Roglic or Evenepoel, a third for Pogacar or Vingegaard… The race could get going very early this year with a tough first stage. Departure from the junction, Florence – Rimini, at 12 o’clock.
Illuminating the palaces of Florence and the entire country with his flights of genius was not enough for him. Between a stroke of the chisel and two brush strokes, Michelagnolo Buonarroti, whom you obviously know as Michelangelo, took the time to focus on words.
Read also :
MAP. Tour de France 2024: first stage Florence-Rimini, the route and profile of this Saturday’s course
“Lord, grant me the grace to desire more than I can achieve…” This is a touching phrase that Pogacar, Roglic, Vingegaard and Evenepoel did not need to analyze to adopt. Here they are, starving and with the same desire at the major event of the first Tour de France to start in Italy.
Read also :
Tour de France 2024: from Lenny Martinez to Kévin Vauquelin… Discover five French cycling prodigies ready to set the race alight
A few months ago, our fantastic four were advancing in a disturbing and greedy harmony on the grid of the favorites. A bend negotiated with a little too much optimism in the Basque Country, on the descent of Olaeta on the road to Legutio, changed the situation and the forces present since three quarters of this major quartet found themselves on their backs and in a pitiful state. Vingegaard, the double outgoing winner (deprived of Sepp Kuss, insufficiently recovered from a Covid infection at the last moment) has not yet returned to the race, he will put on his first bib (the 1 of course, it’s good for morale) since the accident, this morning.
Evenepoel premiere
Primoz Roglic, still chasing that yellow torn one Saturday in September on the Planche des Belles Filles that have become forever awful in his eyes (he still has three Vueltas and a Giro), had time to come back to win the Dauphiné, despite the American Jorgenson who will support (or better?) the Dane for three weeks and aim for the white jersey that the “old” Pogacar will no longer be able to aim for. The third victim, Remco Evenepoel, followed the same path with a slightly worrying result. Never in the game when the Slovenian raised his voice in the mountains at the beginning of the month on the Dauphiné, the former Anderlecht footballer put his poor performances (all relative, he won the time trial without discussion) down to insufficient preparation. On Thursday, the Belgian who is discovering the event showed up wearing a red mask at the conference at the Palazzio Vecchio, saying that he had been ill. A little later, Tadej Pogacar, the only one absent from the Basque crash since he was preparing for his devastating Giro, said that he too had to treat Covid last week…
The members of this pretty bunch of cripples nevertheless stand out when it comes time to open the little game of predictions.
Soon the 40the birthday…
Other talents, the highly anticipated Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez accompanied by two former winners, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, but also Tom Pidcock, or the amazing Canadian from Team Israel Derek Gee so difficult to win in the Alps ago a few days, are part of it. We would like you to believe that there will be blue on the podium, David Gaudu is still as motivated, “encumbered” by the two young guns, Lenny Martinez and Romain Grégoire in the Madiot window, Kévin Vauquelin will discover this unique atmosphere with good arguments, Guillaume Martin will apply himself and Romain Bardet for his farewell to this race which has given him so much intends to see day by day… The tricolor peloton still rolls, without doubt, without “great danger” towards the 40e anniversary of the victory in Paris of one of their own, Bernard Hinault in 1985, it should be for next summer.
