Cyclist
How are the favourites preparing for the Tour de France?
There are just three weeks until the 111th Tour de France kicks off in Florence. Preparations are well underway for the Tour de France competitors ahead of the race’s Italian Grand Départ later this month.
Tadej Pogačar has opted for an unorthodox Giro-Tour double, while Jonas Vingegaard is slowly looking to return to form after a horrific crash this spring. Some of the other contenders have chosen to ride the pre-Tour races, notably the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse.
All of the key contenders will be attending altitude camps in the run-up to the Grand Boucle in a bid to push themselves and hone their physique ahead of three weeks of relentless racing around France. These camps are a key part of their schedule and normally see the riders hiding away in the mountains, all in the name of a potential dig at the Tour de France’s coveted maillot jaune.
Jonas Vingegaard
The Tour’s defending champion Jonas Vingegaard has had a tough time of it so far in 2024. The Dane suffered serious injuries after crashing at the Itzulia Basque Country race in April, forcing his Tour preparations to be completely shaken up and recalculated.
Visma-Lease a Bike has scheduled a three-week-long altitude camp in Tignes ahead of the Tour de France, with Vingegaard arriving several days early in order to get his body in gear ahead of the testing programme. The Visma leader has been joined in due course by Wout van Aert, who himself is undergoing recovery from an early-season crash. After the Critérium du Dauphiné stage race concludes this weekend, the pair will be joined in Tignes by the rest of the Visma Tour squad.
‘He has been away with his family in Mallorca, but now he has now begun altitude training,’ Vingegaard’s coach confirms. ‘It’s a new step for him, and now it’s starting to look like normal training.
‘Jonas will decide for himself whether or not he will go to the Tour de France’, he adds. ‘That means he has to feel for himself whether he is completely ready for it in all respects and whether he is the old Jonas again. Therefore the choice is his. We will never force a rider to compete.’
Jonas Vingegaard’s pre-Tour schedule:
- Altitude Camp in Tignes
Tadej Pogačar
After winning the Giro in characteristically dominant form, Pogačar spent a week at home in Monaco recovering. But then it was back to business, with the Slovenian setting his sights on Tour de France glory.
In preparation, Pogačar headed up to Isola on the French-Italian border for an altitude camp on 3rd June, just seven days after completing the Giro d’Italia. UAE Team Emirates director Matxin Fernandez confirmed that Pogačar will be at the camp for 19 days in total. ‘He’ll go to the Tour with 31 days of racing in his legs,’ the UAE boss informs us. ‘Our idea was to limit Tadej’s racing before the Giro. Some of his rivals for the Tour will have something similar in their legs,’ Matxin claims.
Tadej Pogačar’s pre-Tour schedule:
- Altitude Camp in Isola 2000
Remco Evenepoel
Evenepoel’s grand Tour de France debut has been a long time coming, but he has had mixed fortunes in the run-up to his big splash in France, with defeat at Paris-Nice in March at the hands of Visma-Lease a Bike followed by a crash at Itzulia a month later that left him with a broken collarbone.
Evenepoel’s big warm-up race comes this week at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Already the Belgian has found success, winning Stage 4’s individual time-trial in Neulise. The victory gave him the overall race lead but a crash on a wet descent the following day casts some questions about where his physical health may be. Evenepoel has gone out of his way to emphasise that he is not the team’s leader at the Dauphiné, perhaps suggesting a pragmatic return to racing ahead of the Tour this summer.
Evenepoel will go to another altitude camp after the Dauphiné before flying back to Belgium to ride the National Championships. However, the Soudal-QuickStep leader will only participate in the road race – a title he will be defending.
Remco Evenepoel’s pre-Tour schedule:
- Critérium du Dauphiné
- Altitude Camp
- Belgian Road Race Championships
Primož Roglič
Like Evenepoel, Roglič had a disenchanting spring. The Bora-Hansgrohe signing underwhelmed at his stage-racing debut for the German outfit at Paris-Nice. A month later, Roglič was another victim of the mass crash in the Basque Country that took out Vingegaard and Evenepoel alike. This has undoubtedly affected his pre-Tour build-up.
Unfortunately Roglič has continued his crash streak at the Dauphiné this week, coming down in two crashes already, including a big pile-up in the Rhône valley on Stage 5. But at the time of writing, Roglič has just won Stage 6 atop Le Collet d’Allevard to claim the yellow jersey with two stages to go.
After the Dauphiné, Roglič will head to the French Alps for an altitude camp in Tignes. The ski resort is a favourite with pros ahead of the Tour, with Roglič’s former teammates Vingegaard and Van Aert of Jumbo-Lease a Bike also finalising there Tour preparations there this year. It’s worth noting that Roglič’s team will be rebranded to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe the week before the Tour starts, so expect to see the Slovenian wheeled out for plenty of PR activities on behalf of the Austrian energy drink giants.
Primož Roglič’s pre-Tour schedule:
- Critérium du Dauphiné
- Altitude Camp in Tignes
Carlos Rodríguez
Ineos’ assumed Tour leader, Carlos Rodríguez, has had a mixed season. A disappointing opening to the year at the winter Spanish stage races and an incognito Paris-Nice called Rodríguez’s leadership status into question. However, the Spaniard has redeemed some form after winning a stage at Itzulia Basque Country and the overall title at the Tour de Romandie.
Currently, Rodríguez is competing at the Critérium du Dauphiné, after which he will head to an altitude camp. Unlike other teams, Ineos has not organised a harmonious collective altitude camp. Instead, Rodríguez will be training away from fellow Ineos Tour contenders Tom Pidcock and Egan Bernal.
Carlos Rodríguez’s pre-Tour schedule:
- Critérium du Dauphiné
- Altitude Camp
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