2021 Tour de France Preview: Analysing the impact of the Pogaćar-Roglič rivalry on the race

More than 180 riders, 23 teams, three weeks of action, 21 stages consisting of seven flat, five hilly, six mountain, and two individual time trials stages - The 2021 Tour de France is here.

The most prestigious cycling event of the year, the 108th edition of the Tour de France, will start in Brest, Brittany on 26 June. It is back to its usual slot in the calendar year after the COVID-19 pandemic postponed it to late August in 2020.

Last year's Tour de France saw Tadej Pogačar, a young rider from Slovenia, snatch away the yellow jersey from his fellow countryman, Primož Roglič of Team Jumbo-Visma.

Both Pogačar and Roglič are once again the favorites for the 2021 Tour de France. Their rivalry will be followed closely by fans this time during the three-week event. Roglič donned the yellow jersey for almost 11 days, but lost it to young Pogačar in Stage 20 of the 2020 Tour de France.

Pogačar came from a 57-second deficit to win the stage and eventually lead by almost a minute. It was one of the biggest highlights of the 2020 Tour de France.

2021 Tour de France: Key battles and contenders

Last year, Pogačar didn’t find much support from his UAE Team Emirates. Compared to him, Roglič, the Team Jumbo-Visma leader, had support from Tom Dumoulin and Wout van Aert.

Even though on paper, Roglič’s Team Jumbo-Visma looks better than Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates, we might see an upset during the event. Pogačar has Rafal Majka, Davide Formolo and young American Brandon McNulty to support him this time.

Team INEOS, Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates - Analysing top teams and their leaders

Ahead of Saturday’s race, Pogačar was quoted as saying by AP -

“We can’t wait for the challenge.”

🚴 🚴 🚴 🚴 🚴 🚴 🚴 🚴Team presentation - Présentation des équipes🕡 6h30📺 https://t.co/0BEJpxBtk0#TDF2021

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 24, 2021

Team manager, Joxean Matxin Fernandez, told AP-

“Our aim for this year is clear: we are going to try and defend the title which Tadej claimed last year, so we have built a team around him. Obviously, we’ll be heavily marked by the other teams and it’s not going to be an easy task.”

2021 Tour de France: Teams and their full squads

1️⃣ 😀🎤2️⃣ 🇫🇷3️⃣ ✋4️⃣ 👋#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/xVRsO8wiI1

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 25, 2021

In the 2021 season so far, Roglič has been the one in better form. While Pogačar was the overall winner at four different races (UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Tour of Slovenia), Roglic won the green jersey (points classification) at Paris-Nice.

Roglic returned to the 2021 Tour of the Basque Country and grabbed the yellow jersey while Pogacar finished third. Roglic’s last race was Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Pogacar participated in the National Championships at home after the Tour of Slovenia but his results haven’t been satisfactory.

2021 Tour de France: When and where to watch, TV and LIVE streaming details

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2021 TOUR DE FRANCE TEAM PREVIEW: JUMBO-VISMA vs INEOS GRENADIERS

After last year’s disappointment, British Team INEOS Grenadiers, pumped in all the budget they could and has come out with one of the strongest teams. Their riders have already won several accolades in the 2021 season so far and they will come up strong against Team Jumbo-Visma.

Team INEOS has three Grand Tour winners — Geraint Thomas, Richard Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Har in their ranks. Team INEOS Grenadiers manager Dave Brailsford told AP -

“We won’t win this tour by sitting in the wheels. We have the team to make it a racers’ race, take the initiative, seize every opportunity and make our opposition focus for every kilometer of every stage. We have changed our race philosophy this season to being more open and aggressive."