The first week of the Tour de France 2024 came to an end this past Sunday, July 7, with the celebration of stage 9 of the race, the gravel stage, which gave a tremendous show before the rest day that is being given this Monday.
For this reason, our colleagues at Ciclismoaldia have decided to make an article giving grades (from 0 to 10) to the favourites for the general classification evaluating their respective individual performances in the first week of the Grande Boucle. From Tadej Pogacar, current yellow jersey, to his teammates Juan Ayuso, João Almeida and Adam Yates, through Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Carlos Rodríguez, his teammate Egan Bernal, Matteo Jorgenson and Enric Mas. These scores will take into account both the position of each rider in the standings and the work he is doing for his own team, as many of the names mentioned are in the Tour de France to act as support riders for their leaders. In the end, their position in the overall is not the most important thing. That said, let's get started.
The scores of the favorites in the 1st week of Tour de France 2024
- Tadej Pogacar: 10/10.
The yellow jersey has had a perfect race so far. In the stages where he had to be aggressive, Pogacar has not missed a beat. By far his best moment was the attack on the mythical Col du Galibier that allowed him to start to pull away from his rivals in the general classification. In the gravel stage he did not shrink from the danger of the day, and on several occasions he attacked taking advantage of the gravel sections. With all the merit in the world, the UAE star leads with an advantage of 33 seconds over Evenepoel and 1 minute and 15 seconds over his main rival, Vingegaard.
- Jonas Vingegaard: 8/10.
By no means has the first week of the Tour de France been a bad one for the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader. Vingegaard came into the Grand Départ with no racing in his legs after his crash at the Itzulia in early April, and many expected that he would not be able to keep up with Pogacar even in the early days. However, the Dane responded perfectly to the Slovenian's attack in San Luca, and it was only in the Galibier and the individual time trial that his lack of form showed. His intelligent performance on the gravel stage, despite the criticism, was the best possible to minimize energy expenditure and start the second week without too much of a disadvantage over the leader.
- Remco Evenepoel: 9/10.
The other big name of the race so far is Evenepoel. The Soudal Quick-Step leader came into the Tour de France with a lot of doubts about his level, especially because of his poor performance in the mountains of the Criterium du Dauphiné. But the Belgian has been outstanding. In San Luca he didn't follow Pogacar's attack at first, but ended up catching him and Vingegaard at the finish to avoid losing time. His descent of the Galibier is the only thing that keeps his Tour so far from being a 10, because it was where he lost the most time. Still, he was by far the best in the time trial, and won it with a 12-second lead over Pogacar, and together with the Slovenian was the most aggressive of the day on the gravel stage. Remco will deservedly start the second week in 2nd position, just 33 seconds behind the yellow jersey.
- Primoz Roglic: 5/10.
The most dodgy of the 'Big Four' in week 1 has been a Roglic who almost saw his overall aspirations go down the drain on the gravel stage and if it wasn't for Visma slowing the pace of the peloton he may not have been able to save the day. In San Luca he was not seen, in Galibier he almost stayed there. His 3rd position in the time trial is what keeps him in the fight, as he was ahead of Vingegaard. He is now 4th overall, 1 minute and 36 seconds behind his compatriot Pogacar.
- Juan Ayuso: 6.5/10.
It may seem one of the most controversial notes for his current 5th place in the general classification, but the reality is that UAE has missed Ayuso in his role as Pogacar's domestique in many important moments of the first week, as in the Galibier, with the gesture made by his teammate Almeida and the subsequent criticism of his other teammate Yates, or in the gravel stage. The Spaniard is not made to be a domestique, he is to fight for the generals. But each thing in its own time. Juan Ayuso has to be aware that he is fundamental for UAE to win the Tour from Visma.
- Carlos Rodríguez: 7/10.
Although he is below Ayuso in the overall, 7th just over 1 minute off the podium, Carlos has so far shown that he is the right choice for INEOS to go for the best possible place in the Tour de France. "The Lion of Almuñécar" has performed well when he has had to, showing very promising legs for the moment when the key high mountain days arrive, saving a first week that did not suit his capabilities at all.
- Enric Mas: 1/10.
The Movistar Team leader has been the great failure of a team that, if it weren't for him, would have finished the first week on a high thanks to the performances of Fernando Gaviria, Alex Aranburu, Nelson Oliveira and Javier Romo. In the Tour de Suisse he already showed that he is not ready to compete against the best riders in the world by not even being able to compete with his team-mates. As a result, the Spaniard is already out of the general classification, in 19th position. On the Galibier he was dropped too early. I don't give him a 0 because he's at least 2 and a half minutes behind 10th overall and can make a miraculous comeback, but I wouldn't bet on it.
- Egan Bernal: 6/10.
As for Bernal, the Colombian is 13th overall. His goal, apart from helping Carlos Rodriguez, seems to be the Top 10 at the end of the race. He hasn't been bad so far, but he hasn't been anything outstanding either. On the positive side, he is less than a minute and a half out of 10th place. What detracted most from him was the individual time trial, which was expected to make him suffer.
- Joao Almeida: 7/10.
Almeida is Ayuso's "rival" in the overall. The UAE teammates are 5th and 6th in the standings with a difference of 1 second. I give a little more marks to the Portuguese because he has shown himself stronger as Pogacar's domestique, which in the end is the most important thing for the UAE team.
- Matteo Jorgenson: 7.5/10.
His performance on Sunday's gravel stage was key to him raising the grade for a Jorgenson who was instrumental in keeping Vingegaard from wearing down on the gravel. The American proved to be one of Visma's strongest domestique riders, and only lost his position in the overall top 10 to the entry of a Derek Gee who was part of the breakaway on Sunday.
- Adam Yates: 6/10.
He also acts as Pogacar's domestique and his work is not being bad, but here we have to take into account that the Brit finished on the podium of the overall in last year's Tour de France and came from winning the Tour of Switzerland. Adam Yates is 12th in the standings right now, and I'm sure UAE will be asking a lot more of him for the remaining two weeks.
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