Tadej Pogacar "won't just walk over everyone" at the 2025 Tour de France according to Fred Wright

Given how all-conquering Tadej Pogacar has been over the past couple of seasons, for some, the question isn't whether or not the Slovenian will secure a 4th Maillot Jaune of his career next month, but rather by how much Pogacar will win? According to former British national champion Fred Wright however, things won't be quite so cut and dry.

"The first week at the Tour is going to be so exciting. That's because some of those early stages will really open up the race, I can see Tadej Pogacar maybe trying to gain bonus seconds on Jonas Vingegaard. That might mean he ends up winning a few of the stages but none of them are hard enough that other guys won't also be in the mix too," explains Bahrain - Victorious star Wright in quotes collected by Cycling Weekly, himself hopeful of being in the mix at the Tour this year. "That’s what we as a team will probably be hoping for in the first ten days or so too."

And as mentioned, Wright doesn't see things ending up being a Pogacar steamroll either. "From what I can see in the first ten days, I think it's going to make for some f*cking amazing racing," he says. "I think it's going to be more of a spectacle than everyone thinks with Tadej not just walking all over everyone."

"I had the exact same initial thought as everyone else; I looked at the roadbook and thought there were a lot of flat, sprint type stages in the first ten days, but it really isn't like that," continues the Brit. "It's going to be much harder than everyone thinks, there's a lot of Classics style, hilly stages in there, a bit like some of the Ardennes Classics."

After having come so close to a Tour de France stage win in recent years, could this finally be the year that Wright cracks the winning formula? "We've got our goals as a team, but personally I've already looked at it and there are a few stages that I've got in mind which will definitely be good days for me to try something in the breakaway," he previews.

"How I was racing the Dauphiné is how I'll approach the Tour, it's the level I want to be at and how I want to go about searching for opportunities, it's really exciting for me," concludes Wright. "I was really in my element for those first few days at the Dauphiné, so I'm ready for this now and just want to keep building on what I’ve been doing, hopefully I can have a successful Tour."