"One of the most cunning and crafty riders I’ve ever raced against" - Primoz Roglic best placed to break Pogacar/Vingegaard Tour de France stranglehold says Chris Froome
Cycling
The last three editions of the Tour de France have been a two horse race between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Ahead of the 2024 edition however, the number of pre-race Maillot Jaune contenders seems to have grown.
Although the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Carlos Rodriguez and even Vingegaard's teammate, Matteo Jorgenson can hope to contend, according to four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, it is Vingegaard's former teammate turned rival, Primoz Roglic, who is best placed to challenge the Tour de France dominance of its two central figures.
"He’s one of the most cunning and crafty riders I’ve ever raced against and he’s got incredible resilience, which is such an important factor when it comes to competing for the top three steps in a Grand Tour," Froome says of Roglic, who already has a Giro d'Italia (2023) and three Vuelta a Espana wins (2019, 2020 & 2021) under his belt, in conversation with Escape Collective.
Although he has just one race in his legs since crashing out of the Itzulia Basque Country, Froome also believes Roglic has shown to be in good form. "He won the recent edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné," Froome recalls. "And while I know he showed a little bit of weakness on that final stage, I still think that he’s going to find another level at the Tour de France."
"He’s not really raced much this year, so I think that week of racing in France will have done him the world of good," Froome continues. "He’d certainly be my first name when it came to rounding out the podium and he’s simply a class rider. He’ll also have a very impressive team supporting him. We saw how strong Aleksandr Vlasov was in the Dauphiné, and then if you throw Jai Hindley into the mix, it’s a really competitive core for the mountains.
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- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024
- Look at what Froome’s won since his last TdF, stop denying there is still more than possible one outcome to the future.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Bruyneel understands nothing about clean competition.Sweep21-12-2024
- Exactly. Remco won 3 WT races/stages last year compared to Pogocar's 19. Remco's single stage win in last years TdF earned him a meager 12 seconds over Pogocar who shellac'd him by 9 minutes in GC.Sweep21-12-2024
- Fortunately and as you point out, more than one strategy is possible and worth trying and I’m sure all concerned riders are well informed and counselled on this subject and don’t need such basic personal advice through media from an outsider.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- The main SPOTY award is "decided" by public vote but the BBC "expert panel" decide who you can choose from, that choice has an equal split of genders and is focussed on the sports BBC show and a disabled athlete. Oh yea the ubiquitous "Pub Games" candidate there too, Darts and Snooker are not sports. The other awards are decided by the "Expert Panel" again it's about the sports BBC show, cycling has had it. Cav got his for his years and achievements in the sport, not just that 35th TDF win. Unless the BBC get access to Pro Cycling it will never feature "adequately" on SPOTYslappers6621-12-2024
- Ahhh..... you have to understand the "strange" diversity concepts of the BBCslappers6621-12-2024
- Avoiding him is a good strategy, you get more wins and then you can compete in the TDF relatively relaxed. Pit yourself against Pogi and not only there will be no wins, it will be considerable mental setbackabstractengineer21-12-2024