Tour Favorites 2022: The contenders who could oust King Pogacar on the Tour

The good question that all cycling fans have at the gates of the start of the 109th edition of the Tour de France is to find out which riders are more qualified to try to dispute the final victory against Tadej Pogacar on the Tour of France. The young Slovenian rider may not have a team around him as strong as a Jumbo-Visma or Ineos, but the key for ‘Pogi’ to aim for a third consecutive victory on the Tour is to gain the maximum number of kilometers and days. surrounded by his classmates and later, when the moment of truth comes, he pulls his class to dry out all his rivals.

Some rivals that, a priori, seem scarce, due to the quality of Pogacar. In our opinion, these could be some of the top candidates to overshadow Tadej

COUSIN ROGLIC (32 years

Team: Jumbo-Visma

A priori, it is the closest rival of Pogacar to embrace the glory of Paris. Tadej’s compatriot seemed to have overcome his knee problems and went on the Tour with the best of his cards: victory at the Critérium del Dauphiné. It’s true that Roglic doesn’t look as solid on other occasions and he may be ‘at home’ with his worst opponent, Vingegaard, but Primoz is the main opponent to discuss Tadej’s reign on the Tour. He had to leave last year and his roof is the 2nd place tied in 2020, the year in which Pogacar lifted, as they say, stickers at the La Planche des Belles Filles time trial

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JONAS VINGEGAARD ​​(25 years old)

Team: Jumbo-Visma

The big hope of Danish cycling. The jumbo-Visma rider has only played two three-week grand tours, the 2020 Vuelta, where he finished 46th, and last year’s Tour, where he was amazed at finishing 2nd, yes, more than five minutes from Pogacar. A fairly solid and regular rider, Vingegaard favors the fact he is really competitive in the time trial, a decisive aspect this year at ITT’s penultimate stage of 40 kilometers. He goes on the Tour beautifully -some are asking that in Jumbo-Visma they will give him the captaincy over Roglic- and he could be a good alternative to Pogacar

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ALEKSANDR VLASOV (26 years old)

Team: Bora

Vlasov could be the great ‘outsider’ of this Tour de France. The Russian from Bora made his debut in the Tour de France and favored him the strength he showed early in the season -where he won the Valencian Community and the Tour de Romandía-, the class he possesses and the team that supports him, with guaranteed riders and with a hard way of understanding cycling that leads them to be one of the most aggressive formations. The key to his case is to find out if he has ‘cleaned up’ the covid that took him off the bike when he was leading the previous Tour of Switzerland

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ENRIC MAS (27 years old)

Team: Movistar

Balearic Movistar will fight to be the first of the mortals. Regular runner if any, he knows he needs to save the early stages, not make mistakes and he needs to be more aggressive in the mountains and improve on the time trial, especially having a 40-kilometer CRI on the final day. Undoubtedly, he is the Spaniard with the most options to appear in the last photo of the Tour and he has just renewed for Movistar, which should give him more confidence. 5th in 2020 and 6th in 2021, Enric Mas will try to put on Vuelta’s ‘cape’ and step on the podium, as he did in the last two editions of the Spanish round

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BEN O’CONNOR (26 years old)

Team: AG2R

It was one of the great sensations of the last edition of the Tour de France when he finished 4th and remained on the brink of a podium he had been to in several stages. The Australian rider was competing in his second Tour de France and arrived at the big event of the year after competing for 32 days, achieving two victories, in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and in the Tour du Jura Cycliste and finished third in the former appointment of the Critérium del Dauphiné, which traditionally serves to measure the former appearance of cyclists before the Tour

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DANIEL FELIPE MARTINEZ (26 YEARS OLD)

Team: Ineos

Many put Daniel Felipe Martínez with options to fight for to do something great on the Tour. He is enrolled in a powerful Ineos team, where no solid leader is a priori, but where the presence of Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas stands out. The Colombian is struggling on his third Tour and seems to have earned respect in his formation. 5th in the 2021 Giro d’Italia, he went on the Tour with 31 days of competition, after proclaiming himself his country’s national champion, shining in Paris-Nice, finishing 4th, and showing himself in Itzulia, after winning a stage, the general and the classification of points

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ROMAIN BARDET (31 years old)

Team: DSM

After leaving the Giro d’Italia this year, Romain Bardet is back to his previous career but the one that has always been against him. He went on the Tour with the necessary experience to learn how to read races, was surrounded by a great team and kept his power intact in the mountains. 2nd in 2016 and 3rd in 2017, Bardet will fight to regain his best version of ‘Grande Boucle’, hoping luck will accompany him, unlike in 2020 when he had to retire after suffering a concussion due to a severe fall .