REIGNING champion Tadej Pogacar is pleased to be the man to beat in the Tour de France, which starts in Lille on Saturday, the Slovenian said on Thursday.
The 26-year-old world champion is looking for a fourth Tour de France victory after he triumphed in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
“It’s been a great season, so far perfect. And going here to the Tour as one of the favourites, it’s an honour,“ Pogacar told a press conference on Thursday. “I’m pleased and I hope I can live up to the expectations.”
Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the Tour in 2022 and 2023, is expected to be Pogacar's strongest rival over the three weeks of racing
“The last five years were quite intense between me and Jonas,“ Pogacar said. “It’s great competition, rivalry, and I think this year is more or less the same as the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to racing against Jonas again. I think he’s in great shape.”
The UAE Team Emirates rider showcased his form last month by claiming three stage wins and overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine, finishing 59 seconds ahead of Vingegaard.
Pogacar said the opening week posed many challenges.
“As always, the first week of the Tour is one of the most intense, nervous weeks,“ he said. “You can quite easily lose the Tour de France in the first 10 days until the first rest day.”
“I don’t think my goal should be to aim to gain time for the first week, you just need to take care and not screw it up the whole tour... without any bad luck and some sort of incidents to survive the first week.”
The race's first mountain day is scheduled for stage 10 while a time trial on stage five could provide an early opportunity for gaps to emerge among the general classification contenders.
