This Thursday’s premiere of a new Netflix documentary showing previously unseen Tour de France footage is set to get everyone’s appetite whetted for this year’s event, with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar ready to renew hostilities in the battle for the famous yellow jersey.
Tour de France: Unchained hits our screens on Thursday, promising to give the viewers a new perspective of the 2022 race as Team Jumbo Visma’s Vingegaard overcame the formidable two-time reigning champion Pogacar to record his first ever Grand Tour victory after a three-week tussle for the ages.
UAE Team Emirates star Pogacar got a measure of revenge in March when he completely outperformed the Dane to win three stages out of seven and the overall title at Paris-Nice, but a wrist fracture sustained at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in April has left many wondering whether he can replicate that form over the course of the greatest race in the world in July.
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Vingegaard, who is currently in action at the Criterium du Dauphine, is an early 10/11 favourite with Betfred to stand on the top step of the podium on the Champs-Elysees in the maillot jaune, with Pogacar priced at 6/4 to claim a third title in four years.
Vingegaard’s hopes are strengthened not only by the Slovenian’s injury status but also as a result of the decision by Jumbo Visma to exclude Giro d’Italia winner Primoz Roglic from their eight-rider selection for the trip around l’Hexagone. Roglic is expected to be held back for August’s Vuelta a Espana, a race he won in three consecutive years between 2019 and 2021, after his dramatic triumph at the expense of Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas in Italy in May.
“I’m going to leave Primoz alone for now,” Jumbo sporting director Merijn Zeeman told Algemeen Dagblad upon announcing his TdF line-up. “After that we will make new plans. Before the season we pencilled in that he would ride the Vuelta, so that’s definitely a viable option.”
That decision leaves Vingegaard as the team’s only General Classification contender, and with an otherwise unchanged selection barring Roglic’s absence, the 26-year-old should have all the support he needs to get the job done again.
Le Tour will also have other storylines running alongside the GC duel, not least of which is Mark Cavendish’s attempt to become the most successful stage winner in the race’s long history if he gets the nod to ride for Astana Qazaqstan in what he has confirmed will be his final season of pro cycling.
The 38-year-old sits alongside Belgian legend Eddy Merckx on 34 stage wins to date, and one more victory is all he needs to become the Tour de France’s number one sprint finisher. But the Manx Missile told La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this year that he is looking to go out with far more than a single stage win. He is currently priced at 12/1 to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, which ought to be a decent shout if he nudges past Merckx’s 48-year-old record.
If he’s selected, the first shot at glory for ‘Cav’ would be in the Stage 3 cross-border journey between Amorebieta-Etxano and Bayonne, which brings to an end the Spanish leg of the Tour two days on from the Grand Depart in Bilbao on July 1.
The likes of Mads Pedersen, riding for the rebranded Lidl-Trek (formerly Trek-Segafredo), and Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen will provide the biggest opposition for Cavendish in sprint finishes, but with six flat stages on this year’s route including the final dart to the Champs-Elysees, there is every reason to believe the Brit will have a great stab at making Tour history.
And when it comes to the main spoils, there’s a whole new chapter in the Vingegaard-Pogacar story ready to be told.
2023 Tour de France (All stages live on Eurosport and ITV4)
Last five winners:
2022: Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark, Team Jumbo Visma)
2021: Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates)
2020: Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates)
2019: Egan Bernal (Colombia, Team Ineos)
2018: Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, Team Sky)
Stage guide:
July 1, Stage 1: Bilbao to Bilbao (182km) Intermediate
July 2, Stage 2: Vitoria-Gasteiz to Saint Sebastien (208.9km) Intermediate
July 3, Stage 3: Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne (187.4km) Flat
July 4, Stage 4: Dax to Nogaro (181.8km) Flat
July 5, Stage 5: Pau to Laruns (162.7km) Mountain
July 6, Stage 6: Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque (144.9km) Mountain
July 7, Stage 7: Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux (169.9km) Flat
July 8, Stage 8: Libourne to Limoges (200.7km) Intermediate
July 9, Stage 9: Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome (182.4km) Mountain
July 10, Rest Day
July 11, Stage 10: Vulcania to Issoire (167.2km) Intermediate
July 12, Stage 11: Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins (179.8km) Flat
July 13, Stage 12: Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais (168.8km) Intermediate
July 14, Stage 13: Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier (137.8km) Mountain
July 15, Stage 14: Annemasse to Morzine Les Portes du Soleil (151.8km) Mountain
July 16, Stage 15: Les Gets les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc (179km) Mountain
July 17, Rest Day
July 18, Stage 16: Passy to Combloux (22.4km) Time Trial
July 19, Stage 17: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel (165.7km) Mountain
July 20, Stage 18: Moutiers to Bourg-en-Bresse (184.9km) Intermediate
July 21, Stage 19: Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny (172.8km) Flat
July 22, Stage 20: Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering (133.5km) Mountain
July 23, Stage 21: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris (115.1km) Flat
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
