Roglic heads three-way battle for yellow

Primoz Roglic has the yellow jersey he’s long targeted, but the Slovene’s young compatriot Tadej Pogačar and defending champion Egan Bernal are both on the rise, writes Peter Cossins

- Peter Cossins

As the Tour de France entered its first rest day 11 riders were separated by just under two minutes at the top of the standings, but three have emerged as the favourites to stand atop the podium in Paris. In scenes reminiscent of a sepia-tinged bygone era fans have been treated to a royal rumble of GC favourites on the slopes of the Pyrenees as leaders were left isolated early and duking it out toe-to-toe.

Slovenian Primoz Roglic emerged from the Tour’s initial rounds with the prized yellow jersey on his shoulders, in the process confirming his pre-race favourite status.

But it is two of the youngest riders in the race, 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) and defending champion Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), who are on an upward trajectory and look set to present Roglic with his biggest challenges when the Tour reaches its next set of vertiginous battlegrounds of the Massif Central.

Roglic’s ascent has been propelled by his potent Jumbo-Visma team. Early tests saw domestique Sepp Kuss capable of thinning out the GC group, and in Wout van Aert they have a rider that can decimate climbers on the slopes of Orcières-Merlette one day and win a bunch kick the next. However, the Tour isn’t panning out quite as the Slovene and Jumbo had planned. Dominant at the Dauphiné, where the whole team supported Roglic, the Dutch squad came away from that Tour preparation event with three stage wins but without a rider in the top five after their leader crashed out.