Veni, vidi, Vinge?

Felix Lowe makes his predictions for the Tour de France

- Allez Thibaut

Back in spring, when Tadej Pogačar danced rings around Jonas Vingegaard in ParisNice, no one could look beyond the Slovenian for the Tour de France. Then in June, while Pogačar was recovering from a broken wrist and Vingegaard dominated the Dauphiné, a Danish cake walk to Paris began to look inevitable.

At the time of writing, before the Tour has started, Pogačar has been peddling the narrative that his crash came at the perfect time because it forced him to have some much-needed rest ahead of his season’s main objective: wresting the maillot jaune back off his rival’s shoulders.

By the time you read this, Pogačar may have already blown up in the Pyrenees, his upbeat words proven to be mere bluster. Or perhaps calamity may have removed Vingegaard from the equation – the same way it did last year to Primož Roglič – and made Enric Mas the runaway favourite for yellow. In which case, I apologise for the next 600 words. But from my vantage point on the eve of the 110th edition of the Tour, here’s how I see things panning out…

Vingegaard to level the scores. He came, he saw, he conquered. And this July, Jonas will do that all over again to draw level with Tadej on two Tour wins apiece. Pog may still take a stage or two because of his aggressive riding, but indoor training is no substitute for actual races and the 24-year-old could even miss out on the Tour white jersey for the first time in his career.