"They've always been the toughest races" - Pogacar expects hard battle against Primoz Roglic at the Tour de France

The Slovenians Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar will once again enter a Tour de France as two of the main contenders, and both have geared up perfectly for this year's edition which is set to have a clash of titans across France.

Pogacar, like last year, rode his home Tour of Slovenia with success as an approach to the main goal. "My preparation is more or less the same as last year," he pointed out, hoping for a similar outcome aswell. "Even if there are some flat stages at start, there's still a time trial, you can still get crosswinds so you need to be in good shape and in focus, 100 per cent sharp so nothing bad happens."

He was asked about his thoughts on a cobbled stage in the Grand Tour, but has settled with what was give by the race organizers. "Whatever people want is what's good for cycling, so if people want cobbles, then you need to ride cobbles. If not, then it's useless to have them... I did the recon. of this Roubaix stage and I must say, it's one more nervous stage, one more stage where you can lose the Tour but you cannot win it. So from my point of view, it's not the best. But from the point of view of spectators or as a show, it's really good."

In 2020 he lost time in the crosswinds en route to Lavaur on stage seven. That was a rare display of weakness from the Slovenian, but one where a more rounded-out team and experience compensate, and make it hard to commit the same mistake once again. However the first week of the race will feature several traps, with hilltop finishes and the likelihood of some wind also on the opening days - besides the Arenberg stage - making it a very tense start.

His main rivals will come from the massively strong Jumbo-Visma team, and it's leaders Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard who have just finished a comfortable first and second at the Critérium du Dauphiné. "He's one of many people and teams to watch, for sure," Pogačar said of his compatriot.

"So far when we raced together, they've always been the toughest races, records were falling... so this is not much different to other years and I'm really looking forward to racing against him," he said. He aknowledges the hard challenge ahead, but lies confident, and wary of the other riders who will also be hunting the yellow jersey. "There are so many contenders in the Tour, as always, because it's the biggest race. So I won't have eyes only for him. I'll be looking out for all of them."