The Slovenian starts as the favorite of the race that will start this Friday and will end on July 24 in Paris.
This Friday, the city of Copenhagen (Denmark) will be the setting for the opening of the 109th edition of the Tour de France , an event that will once again have its king for the last two years: Tadej Pogacar.
The’ ‘Grande Bouclé’ will have 176 riders belonging to 22 teams (one less than the previous year), who will face 21 stages , which in addition to passing through Danish territory, will also have part of their route in Belgium (stage 6 ) and in Switzerland (stages 7 and 8).
The gala round will present an extension of 3,300 kilometers , in which five fractions stand out with arrivals on high, two time trials and six stages on flat terrain to end on July 24 with the traditional walk along the Champs-Elysées.
The coffee fee on the Tour
Unlike other years, on this occasion the Colombian presence has been very reduced , although two of the most successful runners in the history of coffee cycling will be present and one who has gradually written great chapters in this sport.
Nairo Quintana , who will ride his ninth Tour, will be the leader of Arkea Sámsic , a team with which he dreams of improving what was done in his debut with Movistar, a crew with which he secured second place in 2013.
Rigoberto Urán , for his part, will also be at the head of his team: EF-EasyPost . Like Nairo, the best participation of the man from Antioquia in this race came when he took second place in this round in 2022.
Finally, in the absence of Egan Bernal, the rider Daniel Felipe Martínez will be one of those who command the INEOS Grenadiers . Together with Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates, they will bet on placing themselves in the vanguard of the general classification.
The runners who could give the surprise
Although the participation of the Slovenians Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic reduce the title chances of other riders, there are some names that would be called to be the revelations of the most important event in world cycling.
The Spanish Carlos Verona (Movistar) arrives at the Tour after inaugurating his record with a great victory in the queen stage of the Critérium Dauphiné. On the sides of the Bahrain Victorius is the Australian Jack Haig , who made an outstanding Vuelta a España the previous year and stands out as one of the men to take into account.
At Bora-Hansgrohe, its leader, the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov , has been one of the sensations so far this season and would start as a candidate to fight for the top positions with those born in Slovenia.
Covid continues to affect cycling
Despite the fact that more than two years have passed since its appearance, the Covid-19 continues to affect the sport and the 2022 Tour de France is not exempt from this. In recent days, some casualties have been confirmed that various teams will have in this event.
The Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), the South African Daryl Impey (Israel Premier Tech), the Spanish Cristian Rodríguez (Total Energies) and the Belgian Tim Declercq (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) will not be present at the Tour due to this physical inconvenience.
In relation to this issue, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has made changes to its health protocol. Among the mandatory measures are the presentation of a negative antigen test before the start of the race and the performance of another test on rest days for team members, commissaires, delegates and anti-doping control personnel.
In addition, the rule that authorized the organizer of the competition to withdraw from the race any squad that had two or more riders with positive results in PCR tests within seven days was eliminated.
