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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