Tour de France 2024, Vingegaard fears Roglic and 'forgets' Pogacar

Surprisingly, the Dane, fresh from 2 wins in a row, mentions his former teammate as a possible great rival and not the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates

di GIUSY ANNA MARIA D'ALESSIO
16 January 2024

Jonas Vingegaard (Ansa)

Rome, 16 January 2024 – The honor and burden of opening the season World Tour they touched Sam Welsford, who won the first stage in the sprint Tour Down Under 2024 before Phil Bauhaus e Biniam Girmay. If for now the attention of the cycling world goes to the events ofAustralia, there are those who are already thinking about Tour de France 2024 and it does so with quite a dialectical surprise.

Yes Roglic, no Pogacar

 The reigning bi-champion jonas vingegaard this year he will be hunting for the hat trick at the Great Boucle and of success at 2024 lap: a dual mission that will have to contend with very respectable rivals. Speaking of alone Tour de France, the Dane begins to analyze a path that is as always treacherous and potentially full of surprises but, in his opinion, similar to his characteristics. "The entire route seems tailor-made for me: there will be a lot of climbs, especially in the third week. Having said this, we will always have to be careful because the competition, as always, will be great: in 2024 even more so thanks to the presence of several strong teams". And here comes the twist: the runner of the Visma-Lease a Bike name a rival above all and it's not about Tadej pogacar, with whom he fought hard in the last two editions, but of his former teammate Primois Roglic. "We all know that he is an incredibly strong rider: to beat him we will need a very respectable plan. The rest will have to be what we always do: be ready right away, in this case starting from Grand Départ di Florence". Strategy to try to immediately undermine the belief and self-confidence of pogacar or real words dictated by the feeling of having to deal more with a Roglic who will have a great desire for redemption towards his former team? Probably the truth of a vingegaard who is proving to be less and less shy in front of microphones and notebooks and more cheeky is in the middle. The participation of pogacar al Giro d'Italia 2024, an awaited debut with great fanfare which however risks taking away energy in view of the Great Boucle. In this regard, there are problems at home too Visma-Lease a Bike: not just the forced retirement of the great wingman Nathan Van Hooydonck due to heart problems but also the diversion to Corsa pink di Wout van aert, something more than just a squire. "These are two very important losses. Wout he is one of the best runners in the world and Nathan he was a very important teammate for me. However, I have faith in the rest of the team - he concludes vingegaard - which will surely show up at Tour de France in the best possible way". In short, between pre-tactics, real fears and extreme confidence in his own qualities, the Dane is already thinking about Great Boucle and it does so by 'forgetting' about pogacar: how long gone are the times when fair play and esteem existed between the two.

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