Pogacar’s great rivals on the Tour are restless

He finished the 2024 tour with a brutal exhibition by Tadej Pogacar. In his first Italy is spinning won unopposed, unlike other times, which were more common in the 60s, in addition, thus preparing his candidacy for the next Tour de Francehis attack in his third Tour, with six stages under his belt, five of them pink, also breaking all records in his first participation and equal Eddy Merckx andn his five pink stages, which he achieved in 1973. He did not accomplish the eleven pink victories he achieved Alfredo Binda in 1927, but that was another cycle.

The Slovenian, at 25 years old, managed to get the second classified, the Colombianor Daniel Felipe Martínez, 9’56”, and the third, the Welshman Geraint Thomas10’24”, these are exceptional figures for modern cycling. And summarizing where the keys to these differences have been in two time trials, basically, Dani Martinez he placed 2’04” and 3’45”. Geraint Thomasand in the mountains he put 5’4′” on Dani Martínez and 6’13” on Thomas, on the two hardest days of the Giro, in Lifewhere he was 3′ ahead of his two opponents on the podium and on the day of Mount Grappa who again performed another performance, beating them by 2’07”. In addition to six stages, the addition of bonuses is another minute, leading to large differences.

The Spanish as the highest representative, the one who has done the best has been Pelayo Sanchez, won one stage, came second in another and was also very competitive in the last week of the Giro. He The Movistar teamwith the Nairo Quintana who also did a stage in Livigno as second, seventh place in Einer Rubio and 5th in the team classification, rounded off a better participation perhaps than expected, after showing a team that is not their best team, they can have a stronger team in Giro, but they have a great participation.

Runners to highlight, Antonio Tiberi, 5th overall and first young man, the Italian from Bahrain, and the young man caught my attention Giulio Pellizzari, 20 years old, how combative he was. He is a good climber, they are two emerging Italian cyclists whose development is worth following. Tiberi is a complete rider, he’s good at time trials and climbs, and he’s usually the only scary one to attack. Pogacar.

And the super fight for me is Julian Alaphilippe. He has been running for nine days, with a victory on the stage, it is a great joy to see this runner, two-time world champion, returning a little not to his rival, but becoming very close. And also highlight the fighting spirit of the runners from Bahrain andl Polti-Comet Team. Pietrobon in the end, with 605 kilometers to fly, that escape prize that is also very objective in the fight, because that is the test of cotton.

And we have turned the page on this Giro d’Italia and are committed to Tour de France. I thinkand Pogacar His training session was very good because his team supported him a lot, the staff slowed down the desire to compete so as not to get too tired, so he is also a good candidate, in fact, according to the results he has and the calendar he has he, ten days of competition before the Giro, including 21 stages, is 31 days of competition, he will attack a Tour de France in optimal physical condition. Objectively from my point of view, it seems that it has no rivals, but it has developed a little, better than before. His great rivals, who in the Tour will have more opposition, and I think they will be worried about what they have seen Tadej perform, who is now resting until June 29 when the Tour starts, are can have an overcompensation, as if it were a workout and can still improve your physical condition. There he will have enemies Vingegaard, Roglic, Evenepoel, with a great team at your disposal, including Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates, Joao Almeida….

Everything indicates that he is the clear favorite. Then he has to run the Tour, a lot will happen, it’s not just about being in shape, but given what we’ve seen, we’re already looking forward to the Tour de Francenext June 29.