From our special correspondent in Florence – A summit clash between Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic. Young riders with long teeth such as Lapeira, Grégoire and Martinez and the der de Bardet and Candish. The 2024 Tour de France, which starts from Florence on Saturday June 29, still has great emotions in store for us.
Fantastic four, national champions, veterans who will hang up after final pedal strokes, young people who push hard to shake up the hierarchy or even contenders for distinctive jerseys. France 24 presents its selection of riders worthy of appearing in season 3 of “Tour de France: at the heart of the peloton”, the Netflix series which gave cycling a great makeover.
Read alsoFrom Florence to Nice: the atypical route of the Tour de France at the time of the Olympics
Tadej Pogacar: in search of an extraordinary double
Before competing in the 2024 Tour, Tadej Pogacar won the 2023 Giro. © Ciro De Luca, Reuters
Regularly compared to the absolute cycling legend, Eddy Merckx, the Slovenian Cannibal is a man who takes on challenges. It is a feat that has not been seen since 1998 and Marco Pantani that Tadej Pogacar will try to accomplish: succeed in winning the Giro and Tour de France consecutively in the same year. To achieve this, he will be able to count on the armada made up of his UAE Emirates team to support him: Almeida, Ayuso, Soler, (Adam) Yates, Sivakov… Just names that could be leaders in any team in the peloton . With a very mountainous course cut out for him, Tadej Pogacar could push gluttony to the end and don the yellow jersey from the first stage. The latter ends in Rimini, in homage to Pantani. A sign ? Unless his recent Covid reduces the abilities of the double Tour winner.
Also read: Cycling: Tadej Pogacar rides the Giro d’Italia with six stage victories
Jonas Vingegaard: the reigning winner in uncertainty
Jonas Vingegaard is already happy to be at the start after his violent fall at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. © Thomas Samson, AFP
Double outgoing winner, Jonas Vingegaard was naturally the favourite to succeed him. Except that in April, a very violent fall sent almost the entire peloton to the ground, including the Dane, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic. The 2024 yellow jersey was one of the most affected. Evacuated on a stretcher, Jonas Vingegaard had spent twelve days in hospital to treat a broken collarbone and several ribs as well as a pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax. He only resumed outdoor training on 7 May and considers his presence at the start “already a victory”. His Visma-Lease a bike team claims to be coming humbly to the Grande Boucle. Fact or fiction?
Remco Evenepoel: discovering the Grande Boucle
Remco Evenepoel, ready to conquer the Tour de France. © Marco Bertorello, AFP
Remco finally on the Tour! Nurtured by his Soudal-Quickstep team since his debut in 2019, the Belgian prodigy will finally take on the Grande Boucle after having experienced the Vuelta and the Giro in previous years. With success since the former footballer won the 2022 Vuelta and showed himself at ease on the 2023 Giro – he was leader of the general classification after nine stages before being forced to abandon due to Covid. Announced as a serious competitor to Vingegard and Pogacar, he arrives however without certainty, after a broken collarbone, in April in the Basque Country, which cut short his preparation. During the Dauphiné at the end of June, he seemed to be struggling, not physically sharp and finishing the event in 7th place. Much ado about nothing?
Primoz Roglic: finally conquer the Tour
Primoz Roglic with his Red Bull – Bora jersey. © Anne-Christine Poujoulat, AFP
At 34, Primoz Roglic is back to try his luck in the Tour de France with a new team but with an intact ambition: to win the big Tour that is missing from his list of achievements. Having moved from Visma-Lease a Bike to Red Bull-Bora this winter to get out of the shadow of Jonas Vingegaard, the Slovenian wants to take advantage of a race with which he has a complicated relationship. Having come within a time trial of victory in 2020, swept away by the Pogacar tornado, he found himself overtaken by the younger generation embodied by “Pogi” and his former Danish teammate. Also caught up in the crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, he was nevertheless the least affected. Not to mention that he has also just sent a message to the competition during the Dauphiné by winning
Matteo Jorgenson: shaking up the hierarchy
Matteo Jorgenson became the third American to win Paris-Nice. His joy was palpable upon arrival in Nice, where he lives. © Thomas Samson, AFP
The Visma – Lease a bike team is like a hydra: cut off one head and it grows back others. If Vingegaard were to fail in this Tour de France, the “Bees”’ best chance would undoubtedly be Matteo Jorgenson, the American poached from Movistar during the transfer window. France has been good for him since the beginning of the year: winner of Paris-Nice, 2nd in the Dauphiné… However, he does not yet know his limits over three weeks.
Lenny Martinez and Romain Grégoire: Marc Madiot’s prodigious doublet
The French succession, Romain Grégoire and Lenny Martinez, had squatted the podium of the European Championships in 2021. © Alberto Pizzoli, AFP
Since the end of Thibaut Pinot’s career, the weight of leadership within Groupama-FDJ was supposed to be carried by David Gaudu. That was without taking into account the latter’s poor form and the emergence of the new generation, embodied in particular by Lenny Martinez and Romain Grégoire. The former already has all the makings of a Grand Tour rider and has already raised his arms five times this year. For his part, Romain Grégoire is more of a puncher, like Alaphilippe, and won his first World Tour success in the Basque Country in April. With these two, who are attracting the covetousness of other teams, Groupama-FDJ can hope for great things on this 2024 Tour.
Paul Lapeira: the Tour in blue-white-red
Paul Lapeira, French champion: the symbol of a Decathlon-AG2R team in full swing. © Loic Venance, AFP
Like his team, the 24-year-old Normand has been on cloud nine since the start of the season. The Decathlon-AG2R rider experienced an express apprenticeship within a highly successful team: first professional victory in March during the Classic Loire Atlantique, first World Tour success at the Tour du Pays Basque, notable appearance on the Ardennes classics with a 5th place during the Amstel Gold Race. He will be easily recognizable: he has just won the blue-white-red jersey during the French championships.
Also read: Cycling: Juliette Labous and Paul Lapeira French champions for the first time
Romain Bardet: one last for the road
Is Bardet “okay” for Romain’s last Tour de France? © Marco Bertorello, AFP
The Frenchman recently announced that this 2023 edition will be his last Tour de France. At 33, the second-place finisher in the 2016 Tour arrives free to aim for victory when the road climbs, and to offer a few last thrills to the French public. And the tribute should be up to par when crossing the Cantal mountains, at home, during the 11th stage. A “Virage Bardet” is being prepared, based on the model of the one organized for Thibaut Pinot last year
Mark Cavendish : “projet 35”
British rider Mark Cavendish after falling during the 8th stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France, July 8, 2023. © Thomas Samson, AFP
Speaking of retirement, Mark Cavendish has pushed it back another year. The fault lies in a record that he hopes to beat this year, at the age of 39. With 34 stage wins, the “Cav'” currently co-holds the record for success in the Tour with Eddy Merckx. This year, his Astana team has enlisted the services of two experts to take him in the best possible conditions to the final sprint: the Dane Michael Morkov, nicknamed the “best pilot fish in the world”, and the Italian Davide Ballerini. Cavendish had already set out on the quest for this record in 2023 for what was to be his last Tour de France, but had to abandon, his collarbone broken in a fall during the eighth stage between Libourne and Limoges.
Jasper Philipsen: watch out for the current sprint king
Belgian Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Jasper Philipsen celebrates his victory during the Milan-SanRemo, between Pavia and SanRemo, March 16, 2024. AFP – ALESSANDRO GAROFALO
During the seventh stage of the Tour de France, it was he who had beaten the “Cav” to prevent him from beating Merckx’s record. The 2023 green jersey seems best placed to succeed him. Winner of Milan-San Remo this season, the Belgian will have a solid team at his service, with the support of world champion Mathieu Van der Poel. A “VDP” who would also be worth being on this list if he were not in the shoes of the luxury teammate to best prepare for the Paris Olympics…
Alberto Bettiol: making Italy vibrate
Born in Tuscany, Alberto Bettiol is the Italian champion. © Marco Bertorello, AFP
The Italian champion will be at home at the time of the Grand Départ, around thirty kilometers from where he grew up. Winner of Milan-Turin, fifth of Milan-Sanremo, he had a great start to the season, five years after his victory at the Tour of Flanders. Formidable when he slides to the front, the EF Education rider will want to shine in front of his compatriots, on his home soil, with the green-white-red jersey on his shoulders. And rekindle the flame of Italian cycling which no longer has many champions since the retirement of Vincenzo Nibali.
Could have also been included in this list
The Ineos acrobat Tom Pidcock, his colleague Egan Bernal in full renaissance, the Italian climber Giulio Ciccone, the Decathlon-AG2R outsider Felix Gall, the 4×4 Mads Pedersen, the philosopher Guillaume Martin, the will-o’-the-wisp Ben Healy and even the promising Kevin Vauquelin.
