Miguel Indurain shares his thoughts on Roglic and Pogacar for Tour de France

Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain is one of modern cycling history's most prominent figures and with cycling taking headlines in his home region of the Basque Country, he has been interviewed and talked about the two Slovenian stage-racers who have been taking the world of Grand Tours by storm.

“If you’re spending a lot of energy throughout the season, you’ll be missing that in the Tour de France, he starts the season off really strong," Indurain said at the Itzulia Basque Country. "Cycling’s changed and they know how to pace themselves a little better, but we can see that it’s always hard for him to finish off a grand tour with all of his strength.”

Despite having won the last three editions of the Vuelta a España, having won the final stage of last year's race, Indurain was keen to point out that Roglic's ambition of coming strong into the spring period plays a role later in the season towards the Grand Tours.

“I think he has to learn to measure himself if he wants to win a Tour de France. Roglič is going well, he really likes these types of races, and he is the favorite to win this week," he added. The Slovenian won the opening prologue of the Spanish stage-race and after three stages he has confortably defended his lead, which is currently of five seconds over Remco Evenepoel.

He was also asked about Tadej Pogacar, who has been on an incredible run of form since his season debut at the UAE Tour. He's since won the overall there and Tirreno-Adriatico alongside stage wins, won Strade Bianche and had Top5 results at Milano-Sanremo and the Tour des Flandres.

He was asked about a possible comparison to Eddy Merckx: “Those are big words. Eddy was the best and he was the greatest. Pogačar is going well, but there is still a long way to go. He’s not like me, either. I rode a little differently in the mountains as well in the time trials. He is a natural-born winner, and he likes to win a lot. He has a great instinct, he’s a winner and a fighter, but he’s just getting started," he concluded.