Tour de France 2024 Preview Show – Jonas Vingegaard Vs Tadej Pogacar For the Yellow Jersey?

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hello everyone and welcome to another preview show the big one the tour to France 2024 and here to discuss everything about that is of course Patrick Blake of our do cycling and one third of the as cycling podcast I mean Patrick the Tor of France is the reason why most people fell in love with this Sport and yeah the tour France where does it sit with you in your heart uh it’s got to be top shell top shell for sure no yeah it’s the reason why I got into cycling I mean it was God it was a decade actually ago where it for Grand started in Yorkshire where I’m from and that’s really where I think my love for the sport came from and I think it’s it’s always the race which introduces a lot of fans to the sport every year and it is just so special isn’t it it’s the the Mayo je the Mayo the Mayo you know it’s everything to do with with cycling is really kind of encapsulated in the T France and I think that you know especially with like the Netflix documentaries going on at the moment as well it’s hopefully going to provide even more Buzz for this year so I’m really looking forward to it and yeah I can’t wait to dive into the stages the Riders and obviously our predictions at the end yeah maybe we’ll get it right this time but yeah I mean in terms of me and the toor front I love that Andy Schleck and Alberto Conor that was what really got me into cycling and Michael rasmuson as well yes he didn’t win it uh but yeah that I think it’s also if you have like a hero or like you said a grandera in your country that really helps and last year we saw yones vingo winning for a second time in a row tacha a bit weakened but yeah I’m sure we’re going to see that battle again but I mean all that out of the way uh Patrick what does the route look like for the 2024 Edition for the Riders well it is it’s a little bit different this year obviously because of the Olympics so the the Finish is in a different area to our usual Champs finish but we actually start off the gande part takes place in Italy we start off in foren which is Florence to you know you and me and we go toini this is a very tricky stage it’s got just shy of 4,000 altitude meters which is up there with a lot of the mountain stages later on in this race there’s like six categorized climbs seven categorized climbs but it’s a descent to finish inini it’s going to be a real tough start and we’re going to see I think if UE te emits want to try and put y’s finger guard Under Pressure because of course he had that crash in it’s Julia Bas country earli this year we have to wait and see how yonas is fairing but you might see a very brutal uee te memat try and already go for the jugular on stage one then our second stage in Italy goes from cesan Aro to Bologna this takes in the very famous culta de San Luca which if you are a viewer a big cycling fan you will recognize this from V jir deelia you’ll recognize this CL from 2019 19 juralia where RIT won the TT up there it’s 2K is at 9.7% we take it in two times and then we descend down to the finish the final Ascent cresting with about 10 km from the Finish Line this is going to be a really brutal climb it’s got some steep pitches in there and I think it’s going to be a real Launchpad for probably again UE te memores to see what y finger guard is made of so early on in this toal round so it’s a real brutal start but we do then have a Sprint stage on stage three from p Senza to Torino should be the first opportunity for the Riders to really be fighting for the green jersey you guys like you know last year’s green jersey winner yasper philipson is definitely going to be up there in this style of stage and then stage four from pinolo to valoir which goes over the C galier via the C La I personally will be there at the Finish Line in valoir I’m very very much looking forward to that it’s got It’s just a really tough day it’s only 138 km but it takes in almost 4,000 altitude meters it’s brutal and it’s got that descent down to the Finish which pitcock was very famous for kind of lighting up back in the 2022 toal France and that’s the big first Mountain test of this of the Tour stage five from San je Dean to San VBA again I’ll be at the start of there but uh enough of that it should be another Sprint day I think although there are two categorized climbs in here so maybe it might go to the Breakaway but I think that it’s definitely in the Realms of a lot of the sprinters to be competing in this stage six go from Maron to DJ 164 km quite flat and should definitely be one for the sprinters stage seven is our first individual time trial of a race goes from Nui San to jev shamb it is 25 km but it’s not flapped by any means it’s got a climb in the middle the coot de Roy V 1.5 km at 6.5% and this really looks like one which I think somebody like Remco aapol would certainly be highlighting as a stage to try and take and then we have stage eight from SE on o to col Le this is up and down all day it honestly looks like a classic it’s got so many categorized climbs and even more uncategorized climbs a slight kick up to the Finish as well it could be one for the hard classic sty men this looks like a Sagan Day from a Sagan stage from back in the day or it could be one for you know some of the more versatile sprinters to try and hold it together or it could be a breakaway it’s a real unpredictable one and then we round out the first week with Stage Nine from TW to twah which takes in 14 gravel sectors we saw these last year in the total France fam a zwift as like a little bit of a preview so if you want to go see what some of those are like go look up that stage from last year that was won by Marlon Roosa but this year we’ll wait and see how this goes of course last time we had some off-road sectors in the tour was 2022 toal France where Simon Clark W on b r Bay in inspired stage pagat took some time on yonas so we’ll wait and see how this goes I expect there to be quite a lot of bad luck in this stage where some people might get punctures at some untimely moments but we’ll have to wait and see maybe people uh maybe people won’t run hookless rims this time around I don’t know that’s a whole controversy at the moment but anyway then we hit our first rest day Scott what do you think to that first week I think it’s incredibly versatile there’s a lot of different styles of stages you got sprinters TTS maybe breakaways high mountains it’s everything yeah I think it’s really good almost similar to the 2022 first week and yeah I really think tacha needs to be the one in the yellow Jersey here he probably will be let’s be honest and then it’s going to get more challenging but uh yeah who who’s your yellow Jersey in this first week do you think I think Patra a big favorite but I could also see Remco you know you know he’s he’s known for cracking later on in a race but I think it’s possible that with that TT if he’s just hovering there or thereabouts maybe he could take take it away from Patu on that TT but I think you’re right Patu is the big favorite to be in yellow because I think we’re all expecting U memores to just really put that hammer down and see how yonas finger guard is fairing after that crash because nobody’s really seen head or tail of him anyways what does week two look like for the tour the second week for to France kicks off stage 10 from or to sand Amon mon this looks like as much of a Sprint stage as it’s ever going to be there’s a slight bump at the end but I doubt it’s going to be enough maybe it might provide a Launchpad but I doubt it’ll be enough to really break for Sprinter team so stage 10 will be a Sprint stage 11 looks like a breakaway stage from a um from a B to Leo this was actually where Greg arar won oh I want to say I think it was 2016 or something like that he won from a breakaway and I think this looks like another Breakaway day it’s got Hills all around but not probably hard enough for the GC Riders to really commit although there is certainly the C de petu which is 4.7k is at 8% which might provide launch pad for a Pacha to really try and get some more seconds or maybe some some other GC contenders might sense an opportunity here on a bit of a medium Mountain Stage stage 12 goes from orak to Vela nerve Soo this is a net downhill stage quite a few lumps and bumps in the day so it should be either a breakaway day or one for the sprins stage 1 from Aon to PO looks kind of similar in that it’s on paper relatively flat but there certainly in that kind of period between 130 km to 160 km there’s quite a few little climbs in there which could provide some opportunities for some rulers who you know maybe didn’t make the early Breakaway to launch a late attack and try and form together to upset the sprinters teams stage 14 goes from po to sahul up the pl takes in the C toal big famous climb of uh to Fran B of welta and yeah finishes up the pl pla which is 10 km at 8.7% it’s probably outside of stage four kind of like the first big mountain test I would say it’s a very back heavy to of France and I think this is going to be a real big test it’s got three categorized climbs in there and this is going to be you know a really taxing day and we’re going to see maybe at this point how people are going to be fairing at this point with two weeks into the tour but again you know you’re looking towards the big names uh to really be making a difference here and then we round out the second week on Stage 15 from ludville to Plateau de Bay this is actually the stage with the most altitude meters in this to France it’s got 5,043 so I guess in theory you might you might call it the queen stage I don’t know but it’s got 1 2 five categorized climbs of a finishing up the plateau de Bay which is 15.8 KM at 7.8% after stage 14 as well of the pla this is you know real backto back tough stages maybe one of them will go to the Breakaway maybe both of them will go to the GC contenders I’m not too sure but this looks like a really tough day and probably an opportunity for the GC Riders to really kind of see what everybody’s made of to make up some ground on if they’ve lost any of that point and the plateau debay is going to be an absolute Monumental climb for people to really fight it out on so Scott what do you make of that second week it’s looks to be a ramping up yeah I must admit U my feelings are more excited about the final week so I don’t really want to spend too much time on this so yeah Patrick why is the final week so the final week starts on stage 16 from Gan to neim probably the last opportunity for the sprinters I would say uh so they’re definitely going to be wanting to hold this together to try and get those final green jersey points then we go stage 17 from s Paul chatau to Super Dev L I may also be the finale come and say hi uh this looks like a breakaway day uh through and through just because the climbs at the end aren’t probably like hard enough for the GC Riders to really commit to it so it looks really like a pure Breakaway day although it lacks really the terrain at the start to form like a strong Breakaway it’s very quite flat so we’ll wait and see how that ends up performing stage 18 from Gap to Barcelona this is if there was ever a breakaway day this is it this looks like a perfectly tailored Breakaway day it’s got a good climb at the start nice and long and then a series of categorized climbs towards the middle and then it’s kind of challenging slightly uphill finish at the end so this looks like a through and through Breakaway day I don’t really expect the GC Riders to be making any sort of Splash or mistake especially considering as Scott was alluding to they have these three brutal days to finish off a race stage 19 goes from to Isela 2000 taken in the covar the Chima de which is the highest point of this Tour of France at 2,797 M and then they descend down and finish up the eela 2000 16.4 km at 7% the Chima laon Scott looks so tall that it makes the cavas and the ISA 2000 which are over 2,000 meters need I remind you theim Deon just goes so like far beyond them in the profile it makes them look like just tiny little burgs it’s quite intimidating stage 20 goes from n to the C laal people who have watched parin over the years we’ll have seen a lot of these climbs used and they kind of like this the amalgamation over many years of parenes in this stage you’ve got the de BR vord torini and the de laqu the last clim being 15.8 km at 7.3% it’s four big categorized climbs and it’s definitely going to be testing the legs and this is outside of stage 21 really the last this is the last Road stage because stage 21 is the TT from Monaco to nce taking in the latter B climb 8.2 km at 5.7% of then a bit of the the CES which is 1.6 km at 8.7% but then we have to descend down the other side of the CZ down into nce a lot of riders tend to live around here or have raced around here so everybody’s very familiar with it it’ll be interesting to see if they go with road bikes or TT bikes I think um or whether they might do a bike change some way through the through the TT and yeah I mean the last time I mean this could be very reminiscent of the you know leemond versus feno you know ripping the the yellow Jersey off somebody’s back on the very last day of a to of France we saw something similar to it back in 2020 when pagat took the yellow Jersey from rogl but that was on the second day so it is really the grand finale and of course finishing in E because the Olympics is on Scott you were saying that you were kind of wanting to talk about this third week so what what do you think about it I think this is absolutely brutal and I think we could be on for a well hopefully a classic in in style of finish like you said Pacha RIT leemond you know like having a really close battle before that final week would would be incredible but is that going to happen I mean who knows I mean it depends on the favorites which we’ll get into uh but uh I think this is one of the best finishes in terms of on paper in a tour to France yeah I think you’re right it it’s really electrifying and it does look quite scary actually the the amount of climbing they have to do in these last three days and then finishing off by having to do a full gas eff on that final TT not just like a ceremon around with shiz it’s really brutal but with that we might as well get into the favorites and where best to start with with the two-time Toral France Champion who’s never finished lower than second place in the race yeah quite incredible that is yis vingo of course he had uh this year a great start to the season winning over Gran Camino winning Tano adriatico then then bad luck in the tour of Bas country coming down in that very heavy crash which has left a number of question marks over his form uh where he is the preparation we’ve seen him out on the road he’s been out in before the Tour of France but Patrick Vis M Lisa bik they’ve already lost one of the grand Tours that they won last year so is the bad luck going to turn around for them here in this year’s toal France and who’s in this squad as well I think that Jonas is the absolute big unknown going into this race obviously he is backed up alongside what we don’t have a full star list but there’s definitely drips and drabs which you can piece together over the Internet he’s backed up by seus obviously the winner of the Welter last year T bot Mato Jorgenson Kristoff leaport and Yan tranic it looks like w vanart will be going there’s definitely pictures of him around the place so they’ve got one more spot left I’m not exactly sure who it’s going to go to but it’s it’s a killer squad absolutely and Jonas is the big unknown because we saw other Riders involved in that crash namely Remco and Rit were both there in the Criterium to do so we get to a little bit of a sense as to how they’re going but yonas is coming into this race just from that crash no race days since then but he is like you say the to of France Champion for the last two years he is just a physiological like phenomenon he is just insanely good at climbing and if he’s on form in that last three days he could you know he could be a still be a serious threat for for the win thereare I say I think that nobody should be writing off Jona finger guard as some kind of second tier favorite for this race just because of that crash I think he is uh you write him off at your peril for sure well as it is tradition I don’t think he’s going to win I’ve said that for the last two years so uh let’s go with that uh yeah it it’s kind of fortunate that what an arft crashed you would have to say no why why do you think that to have like him here if he hadn’t crashed been at the Jalia and then you would have been a w wless team no yeah I think yeah I think W is just a he’s like worth two men easily he can do it all we saw that up at otam in 2022 he was being like he dropped Pacha at the end of the day and W is just an extraordinary Talent so yeah it is probably good news that that they’ve got W here as that kind of trump card it’s somebody which it’s somebody which UE team memes don’t have is that versatile rid Al like w he can really do it all and like I said he is worth two men he can do it on the flat he can do it in the Hills he can do it in the mountains he can he can do everything so I think Vis Spike yeah maybe we’ll be quite glad to have W here to bolster their start list against an incredibly formidable UE te emirat okay then we might as well go there then tacha jali Champion tacha winning everything tach most winning Rider in 2024 but this team UA Emirates last year they were very yeah disappointed that they didn’t win but Pacha came in with the broken wrist so preparation not ideal um Bingle you could say not quite the same position I think worse position than Pacha for sure but uh yeah how do you see this the team as well absolutely phenomenal Adam Yates and Almeida dominating the tour of Switzerland or tour to Swiss and then you’ve also got AO in there and a number of other Riders so yeah Patrick you Emirates how do you see them this year I think this is just a scarily strong team it’s like we’ve said this a few times but this is you know we’ve been I’ve been watching bike racing for 10 years and this is probably the strongest GR team I’ve ever seen pagat yo ARA Yates COV salair Bell and pollet I mean some of these Riders have been specifically signed pretty much just for for this role like they would be leaders in their own right and another team I you say armer and Yates uh were super strong super strong during Tois weeks they were they were dropping the competition for Pacha for the T and that just shows how strong they are is that their domestiques their workers for pagat are stronger than some of Pat’s competitors that’s just the kind of level that we’re at AO was good earlier in the season but he didn’t finish the do he crashed in this real brutal crash which took out a lot of riders so I’m not overly sure as to how he’s going to be going but aler and Yates super strong Yates of course finishing third last year Pacha like say isn’t isn’t the only race he hasn’t won this year Milan Sano where he finished third anyway so he is just he is the big favorite there is of course the question mark of he’s coming off of a zero zero t double it hasn’t been done since pantani is pantani the last person who has did this double so it’s not an easy feat to do so I don’t know Scott what what do you reckon about Pacha zero t double it’s it’s not something that’s regularly done in the modern era I mean so many have failed Conor failed canana failed broom failed Tom Duman failed uh but I mean they came very close nii failed yeah I just think if there is a rider who’s going to be able to do this it is tacha and it’s like the stars have aligned for him Remco crashing rage crashing bingol crashing the strongest team in the peleton the route okay every route suits him but it just yeah I think if if there’s going to be any year that this is going to be done it’s this year with all the competition being weakened and uh Pacha being on flying form so yeah I I kind of want it I kind of don’t want it I kind of want it and uh he he appreciates the historical nature it’s not like f who at one point didn’t know what leish Bon Le was despite being a world tour Rider Pacha appreciates the history he knows he’s a big big cycling fan hence why he went to the tour of Flanders twice so yeah i’ would absolutely love to see this being broken but obviously the Ringle fan in me doesn’t want to see it yeah I think the the thing about Jus is that I’m kind of in two minds is he going to be is it a bit like pachu where you know is he going to be okay at the start of the race but then because of his lack of training he’s going to get kind of he’s going to collapse at one point in the final week or is he going to kind of start off a little bit undercooked but really build into the race and be really strong in that final week it’s kind of like is he gonna start strong and go weak or is he GNA start weak and go strong because if it’s weak to strong he could be a really strong like he could finish on the podium I think if it’s that way around but if he tails off towards the end because of his inability to have trained for a month and a half then he’s really going to suffer that final three days so I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how yonas is I mean you’re not going to know until basically the final week so that’s why it’s going to be so intriguing to be a cycling fan in this race absolutely agree yeah let’s hope let’s because you said this at one point that you hope B it’s going to be Pacha starts out strong and then Fades and then vingal goes the other way and that would be an absolutely incredible finish in these but I mean the two big favorites aside I guess the team that we have to go to in your grand they love being on that third step of the podium they didn’t get it last year they’ve had it with uh Richard carop pass not Richie B he did that for Tre G Thomas and in your scen de this year what do you think of their chances I’m a bit perplexed what they’re actually going to do uh Carlos Rodriguez looks like their strongest card winning the tour of romendy recently Tom pitock from the Netflix series didn’t look like a great teammate and he’s been a bit bullish about his GC chances and I believe G Thomas is in the team as well but I guess he’s more of a super domestic Road Captain so inos grenadiers 2024 total France are they going to end the the their run of not winning it since 2019 probably not I I would I think it would be hard for them to be Pacha but I just love how like you mentioned the Netflix thing and how pitcock came across in that there was the whole episode what was it like the Enemy Within I think it was called where they were like oh you know we’ve got a bit of problem with pitcock and Rodriguez and got this dual leadership what’s the solution to that well let’s add in garant Thomas and Egan Bernal this year because that’s going to make things even like more complicated I don’t really understand how they’re just going with a numbers thing they’re just like we’re just going to have four leaders in this race and four domestiques and we’re just going to see who like survives the longest but I agree with you I think it should be Carlos Rodriguez he was fifth last year he won that stage into the port solle on that descent I just think that I know inos kind of want pitcock to be this GC leader and he did look good during the Tor ofu I will admit that but he was behind Burnal so therefore I you know so in theory you’d put Burnal ahead of Pitcock but then you know from the way that Rodriguez was in the doofan and he finished fifth last year he just seems more more consistent like a safer bet so I would be going with with Rodriguez but I’m not the Enos manager and that’s just that’s just my take on it so we’ll have to wait and see how they how they play it out I expect pidcock to really be fighting for stage victories in that first kind of first couple of days but yeah in terms of GC I re I really don’t know but I am fairly certain that they won’t be winning the race um it sounds very defe to say that but pogy’s just on a different level to everybody else I’m sorry I mean we might as well I I probably should have mentioned this guy before inos granders the 2023 Jalia Champion uh and Criterium D winner of this year and that is of course Primos rogich with Red Bull Bor Hans grower as they will be known uh I was very impressed by Rog glitch in terms of uh the the last few races he’s well the last race not last few races because he crashed in the tour of the B country then came back and uh yeah Primos rogich he hasn’t got that torto France title he’s got basically everything else in terms of the World Tour scene not the torto swis obviously but the Tor France is the big missing Gap in his palarz he hasn’t actually finished the Tor France since 2020 by the way because every other Edition he was part of he crashed out so yeah how do you see the rit’s chances of winning and also who’s in his team as well because it’s quite a strong waran scorer team Red Bull borans he’s just being a roog glitch fan has been tough at the tour for the last few years I mean it’s it’s tested my patience and I think we all we all kind of want him to win but it has just been quite it has been quite frustrating to just be like oh he’s crashed again he’s crashed again but in his team he’s got a very strong team he’s got ji hindley who is the Jalia winner of 2022 he’s got vlasov who was fantastic during the do he finished in sixth place I think it was just because he was just go absolutely flying then we also got van Popple Niko denz Mato saero Bob jungal and Marco h i mean this is this is the team that went to the Doan obviously van popp’s been added on but this is the team that went sent to the Doan it worked really well they seemed to be all around rogl there’s no like oh you know co-leadership with somebody here and there it’s all in for RIT and I I like that I like how they’re committed to him and not some you know trying to you know keep vlasov and hindley all happy with some fake GCB GC Prospect I I like that theyve committed to RIT can he do it if he stays upright I think he’s got an okay chance I think he is one of the strongest competitors that Patu will have so long as remains upright you’ll notice how much I’m emphasizing that cuz he has crashed about 15 times in the last few years but he he won the do like you said and I was after his crash I feel like you know he only just about beat some people who you’d think he would have beaten more convincingly but I think that he’s going to get better because he is still like recovering I guess from that crash so I think that RIT is going to have got better since the Doan so therefore I do think that he’s going to be a big competitor for Pacha arguably you know one of the more one of the biggest threats I think alongside Jonas who’s a bit maybe you know not sure how he’s going but rogl is a bit more of like a certain competitor absolutely I mean that first week Jia he loves that race he won it last year so wiped the floor with everyone including T gatcha so you never know and like you alluded to as as well he won the San LCA time trial in 2019 okay that is 5 years ago so it’s it’s not like uh yeah but um yeah other than that like Bora very interesting Ina interesting bisma are we gonna talk about sadal quickstep I feel we probably should Remco Veno uh his Doan he said he wasn’t going in completely fit and he was using it more as training which you can see the way he was getting dropped as well so he said he got he was a lot stronger after the race and I know there’s like an enormous amount of pressure on his shoulders being labeled the next Ed MKS ever since he was 17 is quite a daunting burden but I think he’s doing pretty well given that he was caught up in that crash as well uh won the time trial but what does his first ever T of France look like is are they going in with ambitions of the GC or is it going to be stage victories or is it going to be the polka do Jersey like we saw with the Welter last year or is that the plan B if the hang on in the GC as long as possible take maybe at least two stage wins including time trial and then see the the GC might just be a bonus yeah I think the I think you’re right the GC I think it’ll definitely be a focus but I don’t think that dare I say that they’re not going to be like using it as like the main target it doesn’t seem like something which they’re going to be focusing fully on I think Remco has said that he just kind of wants to win a stage and I think so long as he gets that which will it could very well likely come in that first TT in that first week you know is he G to go for GC I don’t know I reckon he’ll try hang on but if he drops big time in a stage I think that he’ll do like what he did in with Welter and then I think he’ll start going for Breakaway victories yeah I just think that rogl who was involved in you know the same crash the same incident at Bas country seems to be fairing a lot better right now than Remco is and so I think that I I don’t think that Remco will be on the same level as rogl in the tour so therefore I can’t really say that AOL is going to be like a big Contender for the win because I’m already kind of questioning whether RIT is going to be good enough to beat pagat so therefore if I don’t think that REM is on the same level as rogl then I can’t put him as like a big favorite for this race even though I’d love to I think he’s a great Rider he’s very exciting to watch he really takes the race by the Scruff of a neck sometimes but yeah I I think he’ll take a stage win or two but in terms of GC I’m not overly confident yeah I kind of agree with that uh well we might as well dive into more of a Outsiders category obviously we’ve talked about this before that that that top 10 this year could be filled out by a lot of the domestiques of the other teams that we’ve already discuss so you could have for sudal quickstep there could be am Mig Lander there potentially for UAE you could have three Riders from UAE so then you’re already five places gone then you’ve got bingol potentially V got seus uh RIT J hindley vazov Adam like it’s getting silly but in terms of the other teams obviously you’ve got mistar with enri mass here DAV goo would want to try and get into the top 10 again for grp fdj bar and Victorious we’re always looking towards them as well uh but yeah out of the top 10 okay we would love to see Al lenko in there but I don’t think that’s happening um Simon Yates yeah who out of these um other GC favorites who are you thinking are going to fill out that Podium Podium top 10 I think yeah Bahrain usually get a rider in there so I think that’ll be either Bill b or boy tro especially since b b was top 10 last year I think he was sixth place but Trio first to France I’m not overly sure but like you say it could be just the domes it could be Adam Yates could be ala vlasov hindley Matteo Jorgenson was second in the Doan and he won Pines those are the other two big stage races which are organized by the ASO the people who run this race Jorgenson has had a fantastic year in terms of GC Jorgenson could very well have a tour of Discovery as a GC Prospect caraz has been a little bit hot and cold you know he left the tour theu not really sure why could be a bit of illness like I say pitcock Carlos Rodriguez Bernard G um laen sto for for goodness sake maybe he could even sneak a top 10 enrik mass chicone and teao have apparently contracted covid in the last week or so so I’m not sure how they’re going to be going they’re not even like on the bikes at the moment maybe a b or a baril if they get into the right breakaways what about Derek G I mean he was third in the in the Criterium to do maybe he could do something as well and yeah I think Simon Yates is interesting because maybe we’re because we haven’t seen him since when theor of romendy but you could say in 2023 he finished in fourth place in theor and the last time we saw him before then was the tour of romendy where he dnfed so therefore it’s hard to write him off as well because he he you know he did exactly the same thing last year and he finished in fourth place so I’m not willing to write Simon Yates off but light saers there’s about um there’s about 20 Riders who can finish inside the top 10 so there’s going to be quite a few disappointed people that’s for sure so anyways Patrick um we haven’t really spoken about any french Riders they haven’t had a winner since 1985 I think with Bernard Eno is that going to change this year probably not but who’s in the best position to do a good good tour for the French uh Pacha claim some sort of dual nationality or something like that maybe that would maybe that would work in terms of who’s got the best shot I mean go do possibly although he really hasn’t been like the W go do of well namely what was it like Pines 2023 he looked really good he hasn’t really been on that form since then maybe b or baril but I’m really not too sure especially since B finished nth in the Italia you know that’s not like the greatest you know in field if you kind of impose that onto theour you know he’d end up finishing towards 20th COV I guess um because he changed nationality maybe he could do something G Mar the miss Mr yoyo himself um you know maybe he could do something in GC but yeah I don’t it’s not looking that great is it I’m trying to think as to who might be the highest up I guess in my opinion it would probably be like I think it’s going to be go do probably although if they get in the right breakaways and stuff maybe like madas could pip him because he was 10th the other year so maybe the Riders who get into the breakaways might stand a better chance like a GE Mar as well or a bar Gil um so yeah I I think that overall I’m not sure where the best French Rider will finish but I’m not convinced it’ll be inside the top 10 I think it’s more likely to like an 11th to 15th yeah I think you’re right with all the the domestics we’ve talked about etc etc but that aside uh I can’t believe we haven’t even mentioned this man’s name Mr Macho Vanderpool the world champion and we’ll go into sprinters now because he was a whatever you think quite a good lead out man last year with yasper philipson obviously taking four stage wins on the green jersey uh UPS in De kernick Patrick uh are they is it just going to be a copy of pace from last year maybe match vapo getting his own chances a bit in that early week but uh yeah arguably the best Sprinter in the world even though he has been beaten this year by Tim earlier but he’s obviously not going to the race so uh yeah what do you think yasper Philips and Maan Paul alerson are going to do in this race I think it’s just going to be Sprint domination a bit like last year Phillipson Vander Paul I mean rest of the team super strong as well Janny VES deer ccla Axel laurance as well another great French Rider Jonas rickart Oscar re like it’s a team fully fully designated towards the Sprints maybe they get into a couple of breakaways but this is a team fully designed around getting wins with with yasper philipson and getting that green jersey again and you know I think it’s just going to be super hard for anybody to beat them I mean V PO is preparing for the Olympics so whether he’ll leave maybe after that final Sprint on like stage 18 something like that I don’t know like maybe he won’t do the last few stages and just get those few extra days of rest before the Olympic road race it’s possible uh but I don’t think that the people going for the green jersey will have that luxury if you want to win the green jersey you are going to have to wh yourself through those last few days unfortunately so tough luck Phillipson there’s no leaving early for you if you to win the green jersey but it’s a super strong team I don’t see why they won’t win multiple Sprint stages well who is the kind of the rivals here obviously a certain Mark cish is going to do the race that last stage win that everyone’s going to be talking about for three weeks so uh is Cav gonna finally get that thing over the line I think not I’m I’m going to say no um you don’t I kind of well I also kind of like that they’re sharing the record the best Sprinter the best Rider why yeah but as Eddie M says records are meant to be broken yeah I just think I just think back to last year when C was like oh you know know this is my last tour you know he says it in the Netflix thing he’s like oh you know I’m struggling to feel the emotion of like I feel like I should be sad because it’s my last tour and it’s like watching it in retrospect and being like well you’re lying because you’re here again he wouldn’t be here if he doesn’t have aspirations of taking that record otherwise he would have just you know called it called it quits at the end of last year wouldn’t he but I think he feels slightly I think he can fix that jumping chain between the 11 the 11 to and the 12 to maybe he’ll win a Sprint but you know I think the thing with sprinting is that all it takes is for some small thing to go wrong with his Rivals and some small thing to go right with him and he could very well be in a position I mean he almost won that stage last year and he crashed out quite early on as well like towards stage 10 or something like that so I’m I don’t know I’m feeling a little bit bullish I’ll say that he will win just to be a contrary to you okay obviously we can’t not mention Binum gay um I’ve been labeled what the chief Binum gay fan all these things um yeah he had a a fairly good Toral France if you take away all the pressure in the 2022 Jed Talia uh it looks like on their long list right now they’ve also got gbn Tyson a very fast Belgian Sprinter as well he’s taken a number of wins this year but I mean bam gay he was up there in some of the Belgium um One Day races winning one I think as well so his form is back from that very bad crash in the Jalia and they they really want this Victory this stage victory that they haven’t had the team in Mar and uh yeah Binum I mean another year the jro went terribly well he got a top three I think but again it’s yasper philipson you’re not gonna he is the strongest man we saw him in trano adriatico couldn’t come anywhere near him there so again but okay there are other names that we haven’t really talked about yasper um not yasper Fabio jakobson as well but he had a Tor time in the T in the juralia crashing out I think a number of crashes and then obviously we have to talk about Anor Dee the lotto Destiny Rider so it’s like the Sprint sprinting talent and this year’s Tour of France is incredible and then you throw in mes Pon uh who’s been looking absolutely incredible at the start of the year uh despite crashing a number of times getting that podium in the in parro Bay being up there in various different other things Sam Bennett as well uh We’ve touched on him having a bit of a Resurgence this year at ag2r who else do we have uh monos caught Nelsen uh with Alexander Kristoff and the Very Norwegian heavy Uno X team they’re back for another star but getting a stage win so I mean Patrick who are you kind of looking towards in terms of this big picture of sprinters everywhere I think the two big names for me is philipson and Patterson those are the for me the big threats for the green jersey because they’re both super fast on the flat but they’re super versatile as well they are really good at getting over the clins which like you say those pure sprinters like a dear or a Jacobson or a groven might not very well get over and it’s going to enable them to pick up those green jersey points where those Riders just can’t hang on so I think those are the two big names but yeah in terms of like the pure Sprints those names plus like to say s Bennett has been looking really good this year Cav I mean W art may may very well get involved in some of the Sprints as well just because he kind of wants to yeah Del is exciting but this is his grandall debut so we’ll have to wait and see how he’s going to kind of adapt because sometimes Riders don’t immediately hit the ground on their first Grand Tour especially when it’s the to of France so we’ll have to wait and see with dele sometimes he’s not great with the kind of real intense bue Sprints he’s better when it’s more of like a one day style really attritional style race and he can kind of Sprint from a bit of a reduced group but there’s plenty of those stages around where dele could you know that that stage nine around TW for gravel roads dele could be a real big threat there so I think there’s plenty of sprinting Talent here but I am mainly looking towards pedison versus Phillipson for the green Jersey this year well that’s kind of a comprehensive look at all the ious contenders Etc we could look at the pocket or Jersey but that’ll probably be won by a TP catcher um white jersey as well um yeah that’s an interesting one this year because we haven’t got T gatcha going for that he woned last year record number four times no other writer’s ever done that in history he just makes history wherever he goes but that white jersey is very interesting I think uh one I use uh Carlos Rodriguez that that kind of Rider is looking in Prime position Remco could also win that so A number of riders there but that that out of the way um predictions time uh last year well obviously I’m not going to go for Yus wingal but we’ll start with the white jersey why not who do you think is going to be in the white jersey I will go with Carlos Rodriguez okay I’ll say rol uh green jersey philipson okay I’ll say mes pilson just so it’s not completely the same uh the best Jersey of the Tour of France poka do Jersey oh this is a tough one oh because you there are quite a few points on offer early on I’m I’m Banning I’m not going with pagat that’s like it’s got to be somebody who’s like an interesting Breakaway pick in my in my eyes I think that makes it a lot more interesting I will go with Santiago boaga oh that would be the first Colombian winner since oh kintana huh yeah say is Nao won it yeah kintana was it 2013 or something like that yeah um okay uh um I’m gonna say monos corelon no I’m kidding um quite tricky because it has been more favored towards the big guns as of late and yeah fine I’m since I’m not picking V as winning I’m going to say he wins this he’s won it before so maybe he’ll win it again yellow Jersey your top three some people in the comments have been asking for a top 10 that seems way too hard so we’ll go for a or should we say top five yeah let’s do a top five okay let’s do a top five I’m going to go fifth place we have to think fifth place Carlos Rodriguez fourth place yonas third place RIT second place Adam Yates first place pagat you think it’s going to be a one two okay Yates look so good during to S like I I think that he could be yeah second best if he could just sit on all the other people when pick your attacks okay I’ll say fifth place Jonas vingo fourth place mik L uh third place Adam Yates second place tacha and the winner will be Primo rogl damn I mean that would that would steal the the hearts of the fans for sure one to Slovenia uh but uh a bonus round this week or this time whatever is going to be who’s going to win the most stage wins remember Tad won six in the Jalia yeah oh I’m going to go with I’ll go with philipson a I was going to do that so or no that’s just the way it is yeah okay I’ll go tach okay how many stages do you think I think four he wants to make up for that one he didn’t win last year to maintain his three average yeah I think philipson gets seven seven no I I reckon it’s going to be like 56 something like that but anyways with that that’s it for our big preview show here of the tour France 2024 make sure to hit the like button subscribe to the channel here as well plenty of content coming out uh during the Tor of France so head over to the cycling Dane the cycling Dane extra or even the cycling Dane action Channel and of course check out Patrick’s own channel ad cycling I’m sure there’s going to be a preview out there as well and we’ll have the echelon cycling podcast also having a special Tor France episode so a lot of things to look forward to and of course as always thank you for watching and we will see you in the next one that doesn’t work when you’ve got two screens