25/12/2023

ANALYSIS: The 'Big Four of GC' to clash at Tour de France, Olympic Games and World Championships

There are so many high quality GC contenders at Grand Tours, but only four of them are able to draw an interest of crowds to a race on their own. The X analyst ammattipyöräily lists all the confirmed or heavily rumoured 2024 starts for the 'Big Four' - Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel.

Unsurprisingly each of the four chooses a different path to kick off the season. Evenepoel will pin on the race numbers first as the Belgian aims to add to his two titles from Volta ao Algarve, while Vingegaard will be defending at O Gran Camino. Pogacar kicks off his spring hot, with a streak of big classics in lead up to Giro d'Italia.

Tadej Pogacar recalls how "a mixed drink of cucumber juice, salt and vinegar" helped him stave off cramp to win Il Lombardia

While only Pogacar is heading to Italy, just before that a big clash is anticipated at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, where we he'll face (at least) two former champions in Roglic and Evenepoel.

If Giro d'Italia is quite overlooked in 2024, the same cannot be said about Tour de France, where the major forces should normally collide. And if everything goes well, the fans are up for a great spectacle. Shortly after Le Grande Boucle, the Paris Olympics are on the menu, and all four have expressed their desire to represent their country, even if the parcours don't particularly suit neither of them.

"For now, I only have one goal: the hat-trick at the Tour" - Jonas Vingegaard says 'we'll see' about Olympic participation

In Autumn, only Vingegaard is so far aiming for La Vuelta, but as we've learned in the past, more riders will be seeking redemption for their seasons at the Spanish race and so the startlist is far from complete.

However World Championships are a different story. A circuit around Zurich promises a similar race to 2018 Innsbruck, a golden opportunity for all the climbers to put on the rainbow for a year. Normally, all four will be there.

The last but not least - Il Lombardia. As far, only the three-time champion Pogacar announced intention to start the race, but once again, he's unlikely to be the only of the four with desire to win the October monument.