Dominator Tadej Pogacar had a warning for his rivals ahead of the Tour de France’s first rest day. The Slovenian was asked whether he would now adopt a more defensive approach for the rest of the race, given his substantial lead. “The main goal is to keep the yellow jersey, isn’t it? But sometimes attack is the best form of defence,” said the 27-year-old.
None of Pogacar’s rivals will seriously believe that he will simply trail behind in the upcoming mountain stages in the Massif Central, the Vosges and the Alps. But what are the favourites’ chances for the rest of the Tour, which ends in Paris on 26 July?
Tadej Pogacar (first):
The Slovenian has been dominating the race at will so far. Following a narrow defeat in the team time trial, he has claimed two stage victories himself and let one slip to his key domestique, Isaac del Toro. With his impressive solo ride up the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, he reclaimed the Yellow Jersey and demoralised his rivals. His lead is already substantial. Only a dramatic collapse, a crash or illness could now prevent the world champion from securing his fifth Tour victory.
Jonas Vingegaard (second, 2 minutes 42 seconds behind):
As in previous years, the Dane is the second-strongest rider in the peloton, but he clearly cannot pose a serious threat to Pogacar either. Any hopes of this following the team time trial were short-lived. On the Tourmalet stage, he lost a lot of time to the Slovenian and was himself almost caught by the rest of the general classification contenders. At least the long, consistently steep climbs in the Alps suit the 29-year-old. Vingegaard has shown – not only in his Tour victories in 2022 and 2023 – that he can still improve in the third week of a stage race.
Remco Evenepoel (fourth, 3 minutes 30 seconds behind):
The extroverted Belgian caused a stir when he verbally lashed out at his team-mate Florian Lipowitz after last Thursday’s Pyrenees stage. Lipowitz had refused to help him, the Belgian complained. The team tried to smooth things over, but the dynamic between the co-captains remains tense. The Olympic champion is hoping for a stage win in the time trial on 21 July. Whether he can keep up with the very best on the difficult high-mountain stages remains highly doubtful.
Paul Seixas (sixth, 3 minutes 55 seconds behind):
The French prodigy has had a rather unremarkable first Tour so far, but is in an excellent position. The 19-year-old, who caused a sensation with his performances in the spring, has not yet launched any major attacks. It will be interesting to see how the Grande Nation’s great hope copes with the rigours of his first three-week stage race.
Florian Lipowitz (7th, 4:00 minutes behind):
The German seemed somewhat surprised by his colleague Evenepoel’s emotional outburst, but subsequently came across as relaxed and conciliatory. On Sunday, he fetched a water bottle for the Belgian from the support car. “We can now look ahead. There are some tougher stages coming up and I think the field will gradually start to thin out,” said the 25-year-old, who finished third last year and is once again in with a good chance of a podium finish. The question of who will be Red Bull’s team leader may then resolve itself. On the Tourmalet, at least, Lipowitz managed to shake Evenepoel off once.
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