Roglič and Pogačar face off for yellow

With Bernal and Quintana out of GC contention, the Slovenian duo are set to go head-to-head for the Tour de France title, writes Peter Cossins

- Peter Cossins

As the Tour de France neared its fourth and final weekend, one of the few things that could be said for sure was that there would be a new name on the race’s roll of honour after defending champion Egan Bernal slipped rather meekly out of contention and Slovenian rivals Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar emerged as the favourites to succeed him.

Another was that race director Christian Prudhomme seemed to have been proved right in his prediction that what had been widely billed as the toughest edition of the Tour for years would go down to the wire, with the final time trial up to La Planche des Belles Filles likely to decide the podium placings on the penultimate day.

Approaching that intriguing test, rolling for the most part but with a tough uphill finish, Roglic had the edge on his young compatriot, the difference between them essentially the comparative strength of the two riders’ teams. Ever since the Tour’s opening day in Nice, Roglic and his Jumbo- Visma team-mates have set about the task of winning the Tour in the same commanding way as Team Sky didat their peak, the yellow-and-black colours of the Dutch squad always at the head of the peloton whenever there was a hint of a threat to their leader or a chance to turn the screw on their rivals.