• Candidates The 10 favorites to win the Tour or all against Tadej Pogacar

  • Interview Marc Soler "Pogacar amazes you, it does a little what it wants"

  • Route The stages of the Tour de France

Primoz Roglic

humiliated her enemies at the Critérium Dauphiné last June by entering the finish line of the queen stage hand in hand with her lieutenant

Jonas Vingegaard

.

Tadej Pogacar

, a week later, responded in the Tour of Slovenia by playing rock-paper-scissors for the triumph of a day in the mountains with his gregarious

Deél Rafal Majka

.

A psychological challenge prelude to a Tour de France that starts this Friday in Copenhagen, the city of bicycles, and whose development will be immortalized in a docuseries.

Demands of these new times marked by marketing.

For the first time, the interiors of the

Grande Boucle

will be collected in a documentary produced by Netflix and ASO France Télévisions.

In this space, the daily activity of eight teams will be reflected: AG2R, Alpecin, Bora, EF Education, Groupama, Ineos, Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step.

It will consist of eight chapters and will be broadcast in the spring of 2023.

A novel work that will have as its common thread the new challenge of Pogacar, a 23-year-old phenomenon that competes like the good riders of the past, capable of imposing their will from the beginning to the end of the season.

The Slovenian is looking for his third consecutive title in a course in which he has reaped splendid results, with triumphs in the Tour of the UAE, Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of Slovenia.

“This is the third time I have come to the Tour and I am very excited.

We have worked very hard all year.

We know that it will not be easy and we will have many challenges, but that is part of the magic of the Tour”, says Pogacar, who will be supported, among others, by

Marc Soler,

Majka

,

Hirschi

and

McNulty

.

The Slovenian is the rival to beat in a round with a very tough route, with six high-mountain stages (five high-altitude finishes: Planche Belles Filles, Granon,

Alpe d'Huez

, Peyragudes and Hautacam), six medium-mountain stages, one paves, six flats and two time trials.

Although the profile is clearly mountainous, with passes through the Vosges, Alps, Massif Central and Pyrenees mountain ranges, the time trial on the penultimate day acquires enormous importance due to its long route (40 kilometers between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour) and because it includes two small ascents before the finish.

The first screen will appear in the fifth stage, in Arenbeng, with 19.4 kilometers of cobblestone, interspersed in 11 sections.

It is the most feared day, a fall, an accident or a puncture can ruin all the planning.

It had been five years since the Tour had bet on the stones of the

Paris-Roubaix

.

The inaugural appointment with the summits will be two days later, with the ascent to the Planche des Belle Filles, where Pogacar sentenced his first Tour.

The queen stage will be the 12th, ending in Alpe d'Huez, after passing through Galibier, Telégraphe and Croix de Fer.

In the Pyrenees, the great novelty is the unprecedented ascent to

Spandelles

(10 kilometers and a gradient of 8.3%), interspersed between Ausbisque and Hautacam on the last day (the 18th) uphill.

THE RETURN OF FROOME

Pogacar will fight for its third consecutive title, a goal that only

Chris Froome

has achieved among all the participants .

The Briton, after the terrible crash of the Dauphiné in 2019, has been selected by the Israel team to participate in what could be his last presence in the French round.

He is not here to win stages, but he is to be an excellent advertising claim.

Roglic goes to the Tour with the most formidable team in recent seasons.

In the Jumbo he will have the help of Vinggeaard, a Dane who performs with guarantees in the mountains and in the time trial.

Last year, after Roglic's fall, he took over the team's stripes and finished second in the Tour.

He by himself could lead any squad on the World Tour.

The Slovenian will also have the help of

Wout Van Aert

, the great Belgian cycling sensation;

and two powerful climbers, the American

Sepp Kuus

and the Dutch

Steven Kruijswijk

.

A Tour in which Spanish cycling seeks to end a drought of victories that could last for the fourth year in a row.

The last one was signed by

Omar Fraile

on July 21, 2018, at the Mende goal.

Enric Mas

(Movistar), Soler (UAE),

Carlos Verona

,

Ion Izagirre

(Cofidis) and

Luis León Sánchez

(Bahrain) are the main candidates to bury the curse.

Only nine Spaniards participate, the lowest figure this century.

A round that starts with illustrious absences:

Egan Bernal

,

Vincenzo Nibali

,

Mark Cavendish

,

Julian Alaphilippe

,

Mikel Landa

and

Alejandro Valverde

.

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