{"id":2012891,"date":"2026-06-25T14:13:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2012891"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:13:24","slug":"best-tour-de-france-field-in-years-might-still-not-be-enough-to-beat-tadej-pogacar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2012891","title":{"rendered":"Best Tour de France Field in Years Might Still Not Be Enough to Beat Tadej Poga\u010dar"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2282544826.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated June 26, 2026 01:51AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This should be the Tour de France that finally pushes Tadej Poga\u010dar to the limit.<\/p>\n

On paper, this is the deepest GC field of the Poga\u010dar era.<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard is healthy again after his morale-boosting Giro d\u2019Italia win. Remco Evenepoel finally has the super team he wanted. Paul Seixas has emerged as cycling\u2019s next great hope.<\/p>\n

Then Poga\u010dar went to Switzerland and crushed everyone.<\/p>\n

Richard Carapaz, the Olympic champion and Giro winner who finished second at the Tour de Suisse, sounded almost resigned after watching Poga\u010dar dismantle the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s impossible to make Poga\u010dar suffer. He\u2019s on top of everyone. What he did in Switzerland was incredible,\u201d Carapaz said on the Escapa<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t say the race is over because it\u2019s still a race and a lot can happen. A crash or an illness can change everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The peloton\u2019s finally produced the deepest group of top-line GC rivals Poga\u010dar\u2019s ever faced.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately for them, they might also be running into the best version of Poga\u010dar we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Can Vingegaard, Evenepoel, or Seixas Finally Beat Poga\u010dar?<\/h2>\n
\"Evenepoel
Evenepoel and Lipowitz will share leadership at the Tour de France 2026 for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.<\/span> (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

None of the favorites are heading to Barcelona waving a white flag.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard and the Killer Bees believe this is their best chance to beat Poga\u010dar since 2023. Red Bull is bullish on Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz. France will ride every pedal stroke with Seixas.<\/p>\n

There will be a few others, and Matt White expects some wild fireworks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to crush everyone. There are going to be a lot who he does crush,\u201d the Movistar sport director told Velo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cJonas Vingegaard showed at the Giro that he was in very good shape, and I expect him to be even better at the Tour. I think we\u2019re going to get a battle royale between those two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tour never ceases to surprise. It\u2019s always a good one, and I think we\u2019re in for another cracker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar\u2019s Tour de Suisse Warning Shot<\/h2>\n
\"Winning
Poga\u010dar romped to victory at the Tour de Suisse. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2026 Tour finally has the field to push Poga\u010dar, but what happened at Switzerland suggests it still might not be enough.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t know if \u2018disillusionment\u2019 is the right word, but that\u2019s the first word that comes to mind,\u201d Sam Oomen said after a drubbing at the Tour de Suisse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn day one, I heard it a lot,\u201d Oomen on In Het Peloton<\/em>. \u201cMany riders were saying to each other, \u2018I\u2019ve never seen anything like this before.’\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the same Poga\u010dar who lost the Tour in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Since then, he\u2019s added two rainbow jerseys, two more Tours, the Giro d\u2019Italia, and nearly Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n

If anything, the \u201cPogi gap\u201d is widening, not shrinking.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar even said so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say I am stronger than in 2025,\u201d Poga\u010dar told L\u2019Equipe<\/em>. \u201cDuring the past training camp in the Sierra Nevada, there is a climb where I tested myself last year. I remember thinking, \u2018Wow, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be able to go faster.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When Will Poga\u010dar Attack at the 2026 Tour de France?<\/h2>\n
\"Poga\u010dar
Poga\u010dar, right, can attack in just about any terrain. <\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poga\u010dar arrives with one of the strongest teams; Brandon McNulty is back and Isaac del Toro is making his Tour debut.<\/p>\n

The opening week also looks perfect for an early raid on yellow.<\/p>\n

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And everyone knows Pogi likes to move early and often.<\/p>\n

While everyone else is talking about Alpe d\u2019Huez in week 3, ex-pro Michael Rasmussen keeps looking at stage 6 in the Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real risk the race is decided here,\u201d Rasmussen told Viaplay<\/em>, pointing to the HC Tourmalet and the summit finish at Gavarnie. \u201cIf Poga\u010dar is as strong as I think he is, and UAE is as strong as I think it is, they can start the move five kilometers from the top of the Tourmalet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could reach the summit with a one-minute lead over Vingegaard. The difference could grow to two minutes before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how quickly this Tour could tilt in Poga\u010dar\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

The Tour wouldn\u2019t be over. But a two-minute cushion before the first week is done would make it awfully hard for anyone else to win.<\/p>\n

Chasing the record fifth yellow jersey<\/h2>\n
\"Poga\u010dar<\/figure>\n

If the stakes of any Tour weren\u2019t already enough.<\/p>\n

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At 27, he arrives in Barcelona chasing a fifth Tour de France title, one that would place him alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.<\/p>\n

As much as Poga\u010dar says he\u2019s not racing for the record book, the five-win club is one he wants.<\/p>\n

The rest of the GC contenders just have to hope they\u2019re still close enough for the Alps to matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere and when the race is decided, God only knows,\u201d White said. \u201cWith the way cycling is raced now, it could come any more between stage 2 and stage 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very hard back end of the race, but knowing the way these guys race at the moment, I think whenever there\u2019s an opportunity, they\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This Tour is Peak Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

Barcelona is still more than a week away.<\/p>\n

The peloton already knows what\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t miss a moment of the Tour de France. Get stage previews, insider recaps, and expert analysis from Velo delivered straight to your inbox with the Velo Tour Daily email newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sign up for Velo\u2019s Tour Daily Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated June 26, 2026 01:51AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france\/tour-de-france-2026-pogacar-favorite\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2282544826.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated June 26, 2026 01:51AM This should be the Tour de France that finally pushes Tadej Poga\u010dar to the limit. On paper, this is the deepest GC field of the Poga\u010dar era. Jonas Vingegaard is healthy again after his morale-boosting Giro d\u2019Italia win. Remco Evenepoel finally has the super team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2012891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2012891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2012891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2012891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2012891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}