How are the ‘Big Four’ faring heading into the final week of the Tour de France 2024?

Cyclist
How are the ‘Big Four’ faring heading into the final week of the Tour de France 2024?

The third week of the Tour de France is upon us. The Big Four of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) have all suffered different fates, but how do they look as we enter the final week of racing? 

Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): Abandoned

Primož Roglič hasn’t had much luck at the Tour de France, and unfortunately for the Slovenian, this year is no different. Having lost out to Pogačar at the last minute in 2020, abandoning after crashes in 2021 and 2022, then not contesting the race in 2023, this year felt like a clean slate with his new Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team.  

Unfortunately for Roglič, on Stage 11’s descent of the Col de Font de Cere, he followed Evenepoel into a sharp corner and crashed in the process. He crossed the line 30 seconds down on Evenepoel but was ultimately awarded the same time due to the modified 3km rule.  

The following day would be even worse for the 34-year-old. An Astana Qazaqstan rider hit the central reservation on Stage 12 and crashed into the right side of the peloton. Roglič was among the many riders to hit the deck. Surrounded by his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, he was paced to the finish but ultimately lost two minutes, finishing with a ripped jersey and bloodied shoulder. His GC dream was effectively over as he tumbled down to sixth overall, more than four minutes behind Pogačar. He abandoned the next day. 

There is always the Vuelta a España, a race he has won three times, but the yellow jersey feels as if it is slipping further from his grasp.  

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep): 3rd

The Big Four has felt as if it has been split into two groups at times, with Vingegaard and Pogačar as the Big Two, and Evenepoel and Roglič as the Not Quite So Big Two. That’s not to say Evenepoel hasn’t been featuring at the front of the race – he won the individual time-trial on Stage 7 and rode hard with Pogačar to force splits on the roads to Pau. But while he has experience in winning Grand Tours with a Vuelta a España victory in 2022, he has admitted that Pogačar right now is ‘too strong’ to beat.  

That said, Evenepoel is still looking good for a podium place. He may currently be more than two minutes behind Vingegaard, and more than five minutes behind Pogačar, but there is a five-and-a-half-minute gulf between him and the next man on GC, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates). That third spot looks fairly safe. 

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike): 2nd

After Vingegaard’s horrendous crash at the Itzulia Basque Country, it’s remarkable he is even at the Tour de France at all, let alone currently sitting second on GC with a deficit of 3min 9sec. But that’s exactly where the Dane finds himself as we head into the third week – the week where he usually excels.  

It was in the final week last year, on the Col de la Loze, where Vingegaard finally cracked Pogačar. The Slovenian muttered to his teammates, ‘I’m gone, I’m dead,’ and the Dane piled on the pressure to finish the day 7min 35sec ahead of his rival.   

Look back another year and the Alps hit Pogačar hard in 2022 too – albeit on Stage 11 – when he cracked on the Col du Granon and the Tour was all but decided in Vingegaard’s favour.   

Vingegaard has proved himself to be strong and steady in the final week of Grand Tours, and while he was dropped by Pogačar on the summit finish of the Plateau de Beille on Stage 15 this year, he has shown how resilient he can be when he managed to claw back his attacking rival with a steady tempo on Stage 11 and then outsprint him for victory.   

Anything can happen in cycling, especially with the stages to come. And it’s only three minutes.  

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): 1st

There seems to be no stopping Pogačar as we head full speed into the culmination of the Tour. He is firmly in the maillot jaune by 3min 09sec and has been taking time on his rivals wherever possible, most notably with recent back-to-back stage victories in the Pyrenees. 

Even though super-domestique Juan Ayuso has had to go home with Covid, the likes of João Almeida and Adam Yates ensure he has perfect protection around him in the mountains. What’s more, if Visma Lease-a-Bike are hoping to catch them out on Stage 19’s final climb to Isola 2000, UAE Team Emirates will be ready for them. This is exactly the climb Pogačar’s team were training at altitude on just prior to the Tour.  

Pogačar did show a moment’s weakness on Stage 11 when it looked like poor fuelling was responsible for his capitulation to Vingegaard, but assuming the team don’t make that mistake again, Pogačar looks odds on to cement his place as the first rider to complete the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.  

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