4 Weeks to the Tour de France: What the Favorites Are Doing Now to Prepare

Four weeks to the Tour de France. Twenty-six days, to be precise.

It’s now-or-never for Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingeagaard, Paul Seixas, and Remco Evenepoel as they chase the final watts that might win them the maillot jaune.

And each one of this Big 4 has chosen very different ways to put the cherry on their Tour de France form.

Vingegaard is polishing his Trofeo Senza Fine before he heads to altitude.

Pogačar is planning a little legacy-building at the Tour de Suisse.

Evenepoel is embracing Monk Mode in a 68-day “Remco Regimen.”

And Seixas is stirring just a little more hype in his role as favorite at the Critérium du Dauphiné (aka Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes).

A lot can go right but a lot can go wrong in the next month for the Big 4 before they toe the line at the grand départ on July 4.

Crashes could be disastrous. Niggles and sniffles must be avoided like … the plague.

On the flip side, a peak in form might be only a few workouts or race efforts away.

And that makes the Big 4’s divergent paths all the more intriguing.

Here’s what the Tour de France favorites are doing now to prepare for the yellow jersey prize-fight.

Paul Seixas, 19 (Decathlon CMA CGM)

The Tour de France stakes: Becoming the youngest Tour de France winner in history and the first French champion in 41 years. Daily coverage in L’Equipe ‘til death.

Last race: Seixas set all of France into a fluster when he romped across the Basque Country, up the Mur de Huuy, and ended up second behind Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in late April. This was the coming-out party that proved young Paul could be a Pog-slayer.

What he’s doing now: Turn on your TV, you might see Seixas doing his thing right now.

The 19-year-old is the only one of the Big 4 to take the “traditional” route to the grand départ by making this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné [Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes] his sharpening tool for the Tour.

Seixas is favorite over a who’s-who of Tour de France hopefuls for the prestigious 8-day race – and after a slightly insane training block, he’s got the swag to say he plans to win it. Oh la la.

After the Dauphiné, Seixas will hit one last block of altitude training in the Alps.

Next race: The Tour de France.

Seixas: The narrative for the month before the Tour de France

Seixas is racing the Dauphiné as a full dress rehearsal for the Tour de France.

Same teammates, same nutrition and recovery protocol, a prototype Van Rysel bike built for the Tour, the lot.

How he performs in the Rhônes-Alpes will shape the narratives that follow.

If Seixas does as everybody expects and wipes the floor with Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso, then the already raging whirlwind of hype will spin faster into the Tour de France.

If he shows any hint of fallibility or error, expect a chorus of “Is he ready?”

But at 19, Seixas cannot lose either way.

Learning how to prepare for and race the Tour de France now will inform more than a decade of racing to come.

The biggest peril for Seixas right now? Letting the hype – particularly from fans at home – weigh too heavily.

But that might not be a problem – his director at Decathlon CMA CGM, Luke Rowe, recently suggested on his Watts Occurring podcast that Seixas is naive to the true rigors of the Tour de France.

In which case, ignorance might be bliss.

Jonas Vingegaard, 29 (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The Tour de France stakes: Leveling Pogačar in winning both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in one year, and becoming only the ninth rider to have ever done so. Completing a unique streak of three grand tour victories having also won the 2025 Vuelta a España.

Last race: The Giro d’Italia, which only finished on May 31.

In case you weren’t paying attention, Vingegaard was close to untouchable at the corsa rosa.

OK, so his romp across Bulgaria and Italy wasn’t as destructive as Pogačar’s utter obliteration of the race for pink in 2024, but it was hugely impressive. Five stage wins and a 5-minute GC victory suggested Vingegaard might be back to his vintage best – the one that won him two Tours de France in two years.

But there’s a caveat. We’ll explore what that is below.

What he’s doing now: Vingegaard spent the last week at home framing his pink jersey and spending time with his family.

He’s expected to head to Tignes any day now, where he’ll plow through one last block of altitude training. He’ll be joined by key Tour de France henchmen like Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert next week after they finish the Dauphiné.

Next race: The Tour de France.

Vingegaard: The narrative for the month before the Tour de France

Vingegaard cruised to victory at the Giro d’Italia. The Dane looked like he barely broke zone 2 as he swatted away his floundering rivals.

So, what to make of such an emphatic win, and where does this version of Vingegaard stand vs. Pogačar? That’s what we’re all debating right now, and the answer isn’t clear.

Is Vingegaard in the best shape since 2022 and 2023?

Or does his maglia rosa flatter to deceive? The GC field was – no offense – not exactly A-Tier.

However good Vingegaard was last month at the Giro, it’s this month that will define the dynamic of the Tour de France.

There’s no room for illness, missed sessions, or lingering injuries in Vingegaard’s 5-week transition between the two grand tours.

If Visma-Lease a Bike gets it right and Vingegaard can hold or even improve his form, Pogačar might have a problem.

The other hot topic?

Will Visma-Lease a Bike be wounded by the shock exit of its head of racing, Grischa Niermann?

The grizzled German was part of all the team’s grand tour wins but will watch the Tour de France from the bench before he leaves for Lidl-Trek in August.

Niermann’s successor Marc Reef knows how to win grand tours. He pulled the strings on Vingegaard and Simon Yates’ wins at the Giro d’Italia.

But the Tour is the Tour. It’s a different beast altogether.

Tadej Pogačar, 27 (UAE Emirates-XRG)

The Tour de France stakes: A place alongside only four others to have won the yellow jersey five times. A little more of a grip on cycling immortality.

Last race: Pogačar won four stages and the overall at the Tour de Romandie last month while he was nose-breathing. It was ruthless, efficient, and a rare glimpse of Pogi in eco mode.

What he’s doing now: Pogačar has been on top of Sierra Nevada for the past three weeks and is expected to return to sea level any day now.

The super-Slovenian has been sharing reels of himself cranking high-altitude kilometers on the time trial bike and japing around with teammate Isaac del Toro.

He’s also, according to Red Bull racer Maxim Van Gils, looking very fast, and very thin.

After racing the Tour de Suisse [see below], Pogačar will head to Isola 2000 for one last top-up of thin air.

Next race: Tour de Suisse, starting June 17.

The startlist for Suisse is threadbare. Everybody went to the Critérium du Dauphiné instead!

Pogačar’s only genuine “rivals” for the five-day race are Lenny Martinez and Primož Roglič. And even then, to call them “rivals” might be generous. Tom Pidcock and Enric Mas will be fighting for whatever’s left behind the carnage.

Anything less than a Pog-bliteration of Suisse will be a shock.

One trivia nugget?

Pogačar has never raced Tour de Suisse. Victory next week would fill one of the few remaining gaps on his stupidly full palmarès.

Pogačar: The narrative for the month before the Tour de France

It’s hard to see Pogačar being anything other than imperious at the Tour de Suisse.

In which case, one of the most intriguing Pogi-plotlines will be who from UAE Emirates-XRG joins him for the Tour de France.

The Emirati megateam has been beaten down by sickness and injury since January, and many of Pogačar’s most important lieutenants have fallen victim to the UAE curse.

Adam Yates, Jhonatan Narváez, Jay Vine, and Marc Soler are all in the infirmary and scrambling to be ready for the grand départ. João Almeida has ruled himself out of the Tour de France after being set back by a mystery underlying illness.

According to team brass, the UAE 8 won’t be confirmed until just days before the Tour de France rolls out of Barcelona.

UAE Emirates-XRG has a deep enough bench – and Pogačar has enough watts – to absorb the blow of losing a few A-tier domestiques.

But Visma-Lease a Bike is on a winning warpath right now. A weakened team would be a sucker-punch before the bell has even sounded for UAE Emirates-XRG in its super team brawl.

Oh, and if Pogačar doesn’t win Tour de Suisse?

It’s almost too hard to comprehend the headlines.

Remco Evenepoel, 26 (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

The Tour de France stakes: Proving wrong the doubters who think he can’t race GC. Earning his king-size contract with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Becoming the first Belgian yellow jersey in 30 years.

Last race: A frustrated third behind Pogačar and Seixas at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in late April. “Best of the rest” at a race he won twice seemed like a downer finale to his rollercoaster start with Red Bull.

What he’s doing now: Evenepoel just completed a long block of altitude training on Sierra Nevada as Part 1 of his radically redesigned road to the Tour. He’s now back home in Calpe, enjoying a little sofa time before one last push toward the Tour’s “big start.”

Intriguingly, Evenepoel won’t return to altitude for Part 2 of his TDF roadmap.

He and his Red Bull entourage will travel to a low-lying base in the Haute-Savoie to dovetail training with some crucial Tour de France reconnaissance missions.

Next race: The Tour de France.

Evenepoel: The narrative for the month before the Tour de France

Evenepoel finished the spring classics physically and mentally charred.

He was in such need of a reset after Liège-Bastogne-Liège that Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe decided it would be counterproductive for Remco to race the Dauphiné, as planned.

But according to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, that may be a blessing in disguise.

Evenpoel can instead devote himself to a 68-day Remco Regimen free of the travel, risk, and fatigue that comes with racing.

He can pile his spare energies into solving his climbing problems and reconning key climbs in the Alps.

Will two months of training like a madman and living like a monk be enough to put Evenepoel level with Pogačar and Vingegaard? Or will he end up serving bottles to Red Bull’s metronomically consistent co-leader Florian Lipowitz?

Evenepoel’s stage-racing start with Red Bull was inconsistent and unconvincing. He’s done little to suggest a career-matching third-place in Paris is a possibility.

But a lot can change in 68 days.

We’ll find out just how much when the Tour de France peloton hits its first proper mountains on Stage 6 through the Pyrénées.