It’s Still Tadej Pogacar’s World

Have you heard the whispers? Jonas Vingegaard just went nuts in Italy, auguring a strong run at a third Tour de France crown and convincing some corners of the peloton that he's got the legs to ride into yellow. Isaac del Toro dominated the Dauphine, giving faint hope to those who would like to see him stage a coup against his team leader. Prodigal French son Paul Seixas has thus far only been slowed by the limits of his own bike handling, putting together a stunning full debut season when he's managed to stay upright. Hell, even the Red Bull guys might have figured out how to execute the Remco Evenepoel-as-super-domestique strategy, a concept that a director laid out for me last year as the ideal way to spring a Tour de France upset. Tadej Pogacar may be the best rider in the world, but that won't stop his rivals from trying him. All of which is to say that if the dynamic of the Tour de France is cohering into Pogacar vs. the field, and the field is the strongest it's been since Pogacar started winning Tours, he's still the heavy favorite. After a six-week layoff, the world champion returned to racing on Wednesday at the Tour de Suisse. How would he look in his first competitive action since retreating to the monastic refuge of the pre-Tour altitude camp? As it turns out, distinguishing between race and training camp is somehow actually quite difficult. Pogacar rolled off the front of the peloton with 70 kilometers to go in Stage 1 and put four-and-a-half minutes into all but one of his general classification rivals, ending the fight for overall victory less than halfway through the first stage and making it clear that he's going to France with the same form that's seen him yawn his way to two straight yellow jerseys. The first stage of one of the two premier Tour de France tune-up races turned into a livestreamed training ride.