The Tour de France is back again, really demonstrating just how quickly the year has flown by. Difficulties inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic have meant the bike race, perhaps one of the most prestigious events on the sporting calendar, has been unable to run normally for the last two years — with the 2020 race looking as if it would be cancelled in the peak of lockdown until moving to a late August date and culminating in September, before just nine months later the 2021 race, initially planned for Copenhagen, moved to Brest due to logistical issues caused by European football matches in Denmark.
Indeed, it has been a tricky time for cyclists, who before even donning their helmet and coloured uniforms have had to deal with setbacks. When they do get on track, they’ll have to navigate their way through one of the most difficult bike races around. Over three weeks of intense competition — 21 stages and over 2,000 miles across land, sea and mountains — culminating in the scenic streets of Paris.
The race has a reputation for its unpredictability, and you only need to look at the Tour de France betting markets to see it could well be anyone’s race. The favourite though — current holder and back-to-back winner Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian, who has won both races in pandemic years, wrote his name in the history books at the turn of the decade and will be looking to become the first cyclist since Chris Froome between 2015 and 2018 to win a hattrick of Tour de France titles, serving as the last success for Team Sky before switching to Ineos Grenadiers.
Pogačar certainly won’t have it easy though. The likes of Geraint Thomas and Thibaut Pinot will be looking to dethrone Team Emirates, who have ruled the roost since the start of the pandemic thanks to the brilliance of the Slovenian, who set records for winning three different jerseys throughout the tour. When checking Tour the France news Pogačar powers through the early stages with relative ease but you only need to look at some recent upsets, like the 2019 race which saw Egan Bernal become the youngest winner before Pogačar topped him 14 months later to see how easily things change.
Considering he won his maiden title without a crowd and then followed it up with a restricted capacity winners’ podium, it will be interesting to see how Pogačar copes with the added expectation of spectators in full attendance. Although things look to be getting back to normal, some racers are still feeling the effects of COVID, and while the 23-year-old will be eager to bask in the glory of the Parisian fans, he’s admitted he’s been very cautious and taking plenty of steps to finish the race healthy.
“In our team we take really good precautions, we keep hygiene really high and we’re alone in the rooms. We try to be alone as possible as much as we can,” he said. “It’s really bad we had another one that had to leave, both George and Vegard were high risk, they never had COVID before so I hope the other guys will be OK.”
“We are quite isolated all the time, but the problem is it’s unlucky we’re racing amongst so many people, with big crowds on the climbs. We’re close contacts with so many people out on the road.”
There’s nothing quite like the final stages of the Tour de France and, if Pogačar can secure that third title in a row and make it a hattrick, he’ll join an exclusive club alongside the likes of Froome, Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hinault to have won three consecutive Tour de France titles, and truly cement himself in cycling folklore.
