The Tour de France is established to be the ‘Pog and Rog show’ after again as Primoz Roglic seeks to deny fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar a third consecutive title.
Pogacar might only be 23 but, provided how easy he can make all the things search, the UAE Crew Emirates rider enters the race as the mind-boggling favorite.
But Roglic will not be the only challenger as the Ineos Grenadiers appear to get back a title they the moment created their have and new pretenders arrive on the scene.
Here, we consider a look at 5 contenders for the yellow jersey.
Tadej Pogacar
Age: 23
Nationality: Slovenian
Workforce: UAE Workforce Emirates
Earlier appearances: 2020 (very first), 2021 (very first)
Phase wins: 6 (2020 – levels nine, 15, and 20 2021 – levels five, 17 and 18)
The brief opening time-demo aside, the initial real exam for the standard classification contenders at this Tour arrives on phase 8 to La Planche des Belles Filles. It was on this climb that Pogacar dramatically snatched the Tour absent from Roglic in 2020. And considering that then, it has been challenging to consider of anyone else winning it. Nevertheless only 23, Pogacar would make anything appear so easy, from stage racing at the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico to just one-working day vintage Strade Bianche, although he did blow a podium end at the Tour of Flanders. He is the moment once more the gentleman to prevent in France.
Primoz Roglic
Age: 32
Nationality: Slovenian
Group: Jumbo-Visma
Prior appearances: 2017 (38th), 2018 (fourth), 2020 (next), 2021 (DNF – withdrew just after phase eight)
Stage wins: Three (2017 – phase 17 2018 – stage 19 2020 – phase four)
Be expecting to see a good deal of repeats of that haunting impression of Roglic, helmet askew, eyes exploring for a finish line that would not come on La Planches des Belles Filles, as a 2020 Tour he experienced dominated slipped absent on that time-trial. Roglic’s bid for redemption very last 12 months was ruined by an early crash, but he comes into the 2022 race looking in better nick than the earlier two yrs. Roglic experienced created final-working day collapses an unlucky speciality – dropping his grip at the dying on the Criterium du Dauphine in 2020 and 2021, and Paris-Good in 2021 as perfectly, but he has gained each races this calendar year – effects which would as soon as have designed any rider the stand-out favorite for yellow.
Jonas Vingegaard
Age: 25
Nationality: Danish
Workforce: Jumbo-Visma
Preceding appearances: 2021 (second)
Stage wins: None
If issues the moment all over again go incorrect for Roglic, Jumbo-Visma have an excellent again-up program. After Roglic withdrew in advance of phase nine very last yr, Tour debutant Vingegaard was supplied his freedom to attack the race and turned that into a 2nd-positioned complete. That has led to the team providing him much more leadership options this 12 months, and he was 2nd to Pogacar at Tirreno-Adriatico. Crucial to his functionality in past year’s Tour had been two robust time-trials, so that 41km check on the penultimate working day is an possibility relatively than a hurdle. He ought to get started the race as a safeguarded rider in just the Jumbo-Visma squad, prepared to stage up if Roglic’s luck once again deserts him.
Dani Martinez
Age: 26
Nationality: Colombian
Workforce: Ineos Grenadiers
Past appearances: 2020 (28th), 2018 (36th)
Stage wins: A person (2020 – phase 13)
The devastating education accident which left 2019 Tour winner Egan Bernal in intensive care at the start off of the year ripped up the Ineos Grenadiers’ programs. They go into the race they dominated for the most effective element of a decade without a stand-out typical classification hope but a few choices in Martinez, 2018 winner Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates. Martinez made his identify as Bernal’s tremendous-domestique in very last year’s Giro d’Italia, the sight of him urging on his fading compatriot on the slopes of the Sega di Ala 1 of the defining photos of Bernal’s eventual victory. This calendar year he has been rewarded with management roles, and right after third-put finishes at the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Pleasant he claimed the get in the Tour of the Basque Nation. Ineos will attempt to use their power in numbers and significant working experience, but it is the youngest of their likely contenders who looks the most most likely.
Aleksandr Vlasov
Age: 26
Nationality: Russian
Workforce: Bora-Hansgrohe
Previous appearances: None
Phase wins: None
Bora-Hansgrohe’s shift in aim since the departure of Peter Sagan in the wintertime has brought swift rewards, none bigger than Jai Hindley’s victory in the Giro d’Italia. Now it is the turn of Vlasov to focus on the Tour. The 26-yr-outdated, who has under no circumstances earlier ridden the race, has victories in the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana and the Tour de Romandie and is an intriguing outsider.