SINGAPORE – Two men have dominated the Tour de France in the last four years, with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar claiming the yellow jersey in 2020 and 2021 followed by back-to-back wins by Dane Jonas Vingegaard.
Their rivals, however, do not expect the 2024 edition to be as straightforward.
The race will finish outside of Paris for the first time in its 121-year history, ending in the south of France. The Olympic Games are scheduled to start in the French capital on July 26, just five days after the end of the Tour.
Sepp Kuss, who won September’s Vuelta a Espana, believes the unpredictability of the numerous changes – including five summit finishes and the final-day time trial between Monaco and Nice – will make the 2024 Tour very challenging.
The American, 29, said: “The last days of the Tour look really hard and especially finishing with not only a time trial, but also a really hard one. It will make it really important all the way to the end.
“It’s nice to do something a bit different, it makes the race even longer and that changes things.”
Having two major competitions like the Tour and Summer Games, which features the road race and time trial events, so close to one other presents a conundrum for the world’s best cyclists.
Pogacar said: “The Olympics is quite important for any cyclist. Like any other kid, they are dreaming about it. It only happens once every four years but next year is not ideal for me.
“I cannot say that I am 100 per cent focused on it yet because there are other races and I have to prepare for that.”
Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen is aware of the sacrifices that come with juggling a packed schedule.
He won the green jersey (points classification) and finished eighth in the 2023 Tour, but returned empty-handed from the UCI Road World Championships in August.
Philipsen, who won stages 3, 4, 7 and 11 in the 2023 Tour, said: “This year the World Championships were really close after the Tour and it was not so successful for me.”
What Mark Cavendish would give for one of those stage wins. The British great has 34 in his career and is tied with Eddy Merckx for the Tour record.
The 38-year-old was due to retire this season but has since changed his mind for one more chance in 2024.
He might be chasing No. 35 but stressed each has been a milestone, saying: “They all feel like their own wins, they don’t feel like just numbers adding up.
“They are their own individual wins. Riders dream to win one stage of the Tour in their whole career, so I never take any one for granted.”
For now though, his attention – as well as that of Kuss, Pogacar and Philipsen – is firmly on Sunday’s Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium. They are part of the 27-competitor field who will race on the Suntec City circuit.
Singapore’s Yeo Boon Kiak, who was fourth in road cycling at the 2021 SEA Games, was the top local finisher in the 2022 Criterium.
“I want to just enjoy myself, to be able to race tomorrow with the biggest stars of the cycling world. Things went pretty well last year,” he said.
