Roglic out to deny reigning champ Pogacar 3rd Tour de France win
PRIMOZ Roglic must find a way to stop his Slovenian rival Tadej Pogacar from winning the Tour de France for the third straight time.
While Pogacar remains the firm race favorite, Roglic eyes a hat trick of French wins this year when the three-week race starts in Denmark today. It ends in Paris on July 24.
Roglic won the Criterium du Dauphine stage race this month to add to his dramatic victory at the Paris-Nice in March.
Roglic was brilliantly aided at the Dauphine by his Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard, a climbing ace who is also quick. Vingegaard was visibly moved when Danish fans chanted his name at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
They will cheer him again in today’s opening time trial around Denmark’s capital city.
“As long as we work together, we believe we can beat (Pogacar),” Roglic said. “We are a strong team and we have a lot of qualities.”
Jumbo-Visma has Vingegaard, last year’s Tour runner-up, as a co-leader in case Roglic fades, while Pogacar remains the outright No. 1 on the UAE Team Emirates lineup.
“It’s a big difference having two compared to one. A lot can happen in the Tour, there’s so much stress,” Vingegaard said. “We really want to go with two leaders and we believe we can challenge Pogacar.”
They bonded at the Dauphine by sharing beers after stages on the hotel balcony.
“Jonas is super strong, we’re strong individually, and so the whole team is strong,” Roglic insisted. “We’re super good friends.”
Roglic has won the past three Spanish
Vueltas, but is widely remembered for his soul-crushing defeat to Pogacar on the 2020 Tour.
Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk and American Sepp Kuss will pull in the mountains to help Roglic. Meanwhile, teammate Wout van Aert eyes the green jersey for best sprinter. But the one-day classics specialist and former cyclo-cross world champion is nursing a sore kneecap.
“Everything related to pedaling is not really good,” said Van Aert, who won a prestigious stage up the daunting Mont Ventoux in last year’s race.
Another threat is Australian rider Ben O’Connor, who finished fourth in 2021 and isn’t hiding his ambitions.
“Last year was a breakthrough, now it’s clear which direction I’m aiming for,” the AG2R Citroen rider said.