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Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome (Ineos Grenadiers) believes the 2020 race is Primož Roglič’s to lose. The Jumbo-Visma rider clinched the yellow jersey after stage 9 and, with a week to go, has a 44-second lead over compatriot Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
“It’s definitely the Tour de Roglič losing, I agree with that,” said Froome. Eurosport. “I would love to see Egan [Bernal] win, but at the same time, I think Pogačar is not far off either. It seems to be the coolest of all. It seems to be calm all the time. It’s amazing to see him run. “
There are still several aft mountain events to come with four uphill finishes and one mountain time trial remaining. Froome believes that Roglič’s biggest obstacle will be maintaining his performance over the last week.
“It remains to be seen if they can continue like this for three weeks, that is the challenge for Roglič,” said Froome. “Usually in the past we’ve seen him walk away on Grand Tours and the tail of this Tour de France is brutal.
“They have the Grand Colombier stage and after the rest day they have what I would call the Queen stage, on stage 17 [a summit finish to Col de la Loze -ed]. Obviously, in the Planche des Belles Filles time trial on stage 20, there are some intense GC days right at the end of the race and it will be interesting if Roglič can handle it.
With a drastically altered racing calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic that brought the sport to a standstill across the world in March, the Tour de France is positioned much earlier on the schedule than it would happen in a normal year. Most riders have only been able to have a few days of racing on their legs and Froome believes the variation in blocking restrictions around the world has had an impact on form.
“We didn’t have many races on the Tour. A lot of the peloton was stuck in turbo trainers for a few months before the Tour, some people were training on the roads, ”explained Froome. “It is interesting to see in the Group of cyclists of the general who was allowed to go out to train and who stayed inside. Obviously, the Slovenians were allowed out and appear to be flying. Roglič and Pogačar seem to dominate the race at the moment ”.
Froome was left out of this year’s Tour de France and is currently competing at Tirreno-Adriatico, with his teammate and 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, ahead of bidding for a second overall title at the Tour of Spain in October. Meanwhile, 2019 champion Egan Bernal is the only general classification leader for Ineos Grenadiers in the French race. The Colombian rests in third place overall and 59 seconds behind Roglič.
“Egan seems to be having ups and downs, it’s pretty hard to know exactly how he’s feeling right now,” Froome said. “I would like to think, like last year, that it can come in handy in the last week and make a difference there, especially when it gets more difficult. After a minute, it looks like it will be difficult for him to make a difference against Roglič. “
