by The two -time champion Jonas Vingegaard said that on Friday he feels stronger than ever and confidently to win another Tour de France as tensions on the eve of the start.
The biggest race of the cycling also offers one of the greatest rivalries in sport, since the gently spoken Vingegaard with the defending champion Tadej Pogacar, who has more a floating style.
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Slovenian Pogacar attacks in the least provocation, while the Dane tends to adhere to a carefully drawn plan.
The couple won the last five tour de France between them and the 112nd edition begins on Saturday from the northern city of Lille.
It has an old school route that favors climbers like Wispy Vingegaard.
And the 28-year-old Dane promised to fulfill his part of the bargain through the 21-day extravagance.
“I am at the highest level I’ve ever been,” said the winner in 2022 and 2023.
Vingegaard explained that he was more muscular after having changed the training routine to recover from a bad crash last year.
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“I am now heavier than last year, but it is muscles and there is a lot more strength. Let’s see if that’s enough,” he said.
Vingegaard smiled when he was asked for Pogacar, who claimed on Thursday that Vingegaard was the best climber in the world.
“I have a lot of admiration for Tadej,” he said. “He is a very nice guy and a very good cyclist.”
– Sameepoel Zute –
These words are far from the early days of rivalry.
The great 338-kilometer route in the first edition in 2020, so as not to venture abroad, begins with a flat stage around Lille, which is expected to be handed over to the first overall leader to a sprinter.
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But the 184 drivers from 23 teams will be deleted on often narrow, rolling streets across the north west of Brittany in the first ten days.
Aggressive, hotly contested battles for the right to yellow jersey and a huge crowd of several hundred thousand are expected every day.
The Belgian driver Remco Sidepoel is hot to take the yellow jersey up to at least the fifth stage.
Sidepoel is the Olympic champion and world champion in time trials and swore “everything on the way” on Thursday, on the 33 km long journey in Caen.
“I am here to compete for them to make it more difficult. I was third last year. I will give my maximum and we will see in a few weeks,” said Sawoel.
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The Puy de Dome volcanoes present the first mountains up to level 10 when the drivers have their first day free.
Before the Blockbuster -Lekt Week there are two more colossal ascent days in the Alps in the Pyrenees in which the bicycle folklore won the tour.
DMC/EA
