Dane Jonas Wingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) will start his defense of the Tour de France title in Bilbao, Spain this Saturday in a 110th draw match with three Portuguese in the peloton.
Winner in 2022 and runner-up in 2021, Wingegor’s biggest challenger is Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), Slovenian champion of the 2020 and 2021 Grande Boucle races.
As the 26-year-old Dane arrives at the Tour with a recent win in the Criteria Dauphine, which he added to his victories at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Grand Camigno, “Pogi” will head to the first stage. , a 182km undulating journey starting and ending in Bilbao as the newly crowned national champion in long distance and time trials.
However, the 24-year-old Slovenian’s fitness can only be guessed at as he was sidelined for almost two months following a late April crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in which he broke his left wrist.
The decision of the winner of the 110th edition, which will end on July 23 in Paris, should take place between the last two winners of the French competition, marked this year by the return of the 2019 champion Colombian Egan Bernal (INEOS). , after a two-year absence and a lengthy recovery following a serious accident he was in in early 2022 that kept him off the road for seven months.
Among the favorites are Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who finished third in the 2021 Tour and the winner of the 2019 Giro, or Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe), the Australian who refused to defend the title in the pink corso. ‘ to focus on the Tour.
They are joined by David Gaudou (Groupama-FDJ), fourth in the latest edition and France’s biggest hope, Spaniards Miquel Landa (winning Bahrain) and Enric Mas (Movistar) or British twins Simon (Jeiko AlUla) and Adam Yates. this last as Emirates UAE’s “Plan B” in case Pogacar revolts due to injury.
This edition of the Grand Boucle also features, as an added attraction, Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana), who in his final season in the peloton aims to make history and isolate himself as the cyclist with the most stage wins. in the Tour, breaking a draw with 34-year-old Eddy Merckx.
Portugal’s Nelson Oliveira, Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) and Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) are among the 176 cyclists who will start this Sunday in the 3,405.6km race between Bilbao and the Champs Elysées, which will witness the “marriage of the successor” on 23 July. Jonas Wingegaard.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.