The Tour is already here. The most important cycling event of the year will begin this Saturday, July 1 in Bilbao and will offer us three weeks of the best cycling. The fight for the yellow jersey is expected to be just as fierce as ever in the most mountainous Tour in recent times and there are two names that stand out among the rest of the participants in the Grande Boucle.
Without a doubt we are talking about Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, the great contenders for victory in the general classification. The Slovenian and the Dane have been unshakable so far this season, but on a Tour with such high quality there are many other protagonists that we must keep an eye on until we arrive in Paris on July 23.
Jonas Vingegaard’s situation compared to last year is much more different than it may seem at first glance. The Dane arrives at the Tour as an absolutely established cyclist, a sign that he did not carry last year. Another very important element is the team that surrounds it. The hierarchy is clear and there is no longer a Primoz Roglic next to him to distribute responsibilities. Vingegaard will have to defend the title with a team that is more rolling than climbing, but the truth is that if he is absolutely capable of defending himself on any terrain, it is on his own in the high mountains.
Very few starts to the season are remembered like the one carried out by Tadej Pogacar this 2023. A race that he contested, a race that he won, in the purest Merckx style. Despite this lightning start, his performance in the Tour became unknown after his fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After undergoing surgery, he spent 5 weeks without training, while his great rival massacred everyone in the Dauphiné. This question can also play in favor of the Slovenian who, if it weren’t for that fall, would still start with more options. Unlike last year, he will be able to rely on an improved team in which the presence of Adam Yates stands out, a second sword with guarantees. Everything ready for a good rematch between Vingegaard and Pogacar.
In addition to Vingegaard and Pogacar, more giants of the current generation will be present on this Tour. Mathieu Van der Poel is one of them, although his goal will not be the yellow jersey. As a good classicist, the current winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix will go in search of stages and this always means a show. As he cannot be otherwise, he will compete in this aspect with his eternal rival Wout Van Aert who also goes to the Tour with the same mentality. With these two, we can expect fireworks even in the most insipid stages.
Returning to the candidates for the general classification we find Jay Hindley. The bookmakers place the winner of the 2022 Giro as the third cyclist with the most options to take the yellow jersey. Of course, light years away from the two main favorites. Hindley isn’t the most self-confident rider in the peloton and he doesn’t make himself noticeable, but he’s always there. The Tour is an elimination race and in an edition like this, with so many mountains and two favorites that will be marked to death, Hindley could be one of those who fishes in troubled rivers.
So far this year, only one cyclist has been able to improve Vingegaard’s position in a general classification and this has been David Gaudu. He did it in the Paris-Nice that Pogacar ended up winning and the script for the Tour could be similar. The Frenchman ran very intelligently to benefit from the all-out fight between the two headliners.
This position is shared by the two Spaniards with the highest aspirations on this Tour. Enric Mas and Mikel Landa are not having the best of their seasons, especially the first one. The truth is that the leader of the Movistar Team has been seen to be completely blurred in 2023 and he arrives at the Grande Boucle with all his homework to do. Landa has shown better sensations but there are still goals to be met. The Grand Depart in his land will surely be a good incentive to bring home a good result but the truth is that Spanish cycling is not there to expect great feats on this Tour.
Mattias Skjelmose is being one of the revelations of the season. The 22-year-old Dane has shown great skills when the road gets steep and a very mature management capacity for his age. He is the new champion of Denmark and already surprised in the Tour of Switzerland taking the general before all a Remco Evenepoel. In his first participation in the Tour he could be one of the positive surprises of this edition.
Will it go back to what it was? This is the question that everyone asks when we think of Egan Bernal. The Colombian who in 2019 donned the yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées to proclaim himself the winner of the Tour de France is now a shadow of what he was. The injury that kept him off the road for a year still leaves a trace in the performance of what was once the best cyclist in the world. It seemed that this 2023 should be the great return of Bernal, but so far he has been more news for his falls than for his result. He has another opportunity on the Tour to shine again.
Richard Carapaz left INEOS in search of being the undisputed leader in the Tour de France and the time has come. The Ecuadorian is always someone to keep in mind when it comes to grand tours and for his part it will be a great opportunity to show his old team that they were wrong to let him go. His season is leaving something to be desired but a good result on the Tour would make him forget any bad performance he has done so far.
The ‘Man’s Express’ is reaching its last station. Mark Cavendish will experience his last great cycling event on this Tour and with just one victory he would surpass Merckx as the man who has won the most stages in the history of the Grande Boucle. This will not be an edition that gives sprinters too many opportunities, but the Tour ends on the Champs-Élysées, a place of so many joys for Cavendish. It will be the last great sprint of one of the best sprinters in history.
