Saturday, July 1, 2023

2023 Tour de France: The Contenders

 If you want to see every teams riders I recommend this link. This article will look at the contenders for the yellow jersey which is presented to the overall race leader.


THE OUTSIDERS

These are racers who have an outside chance at winning the Tour de France, but are not considered the main contenders.

Rigoberto Uran - EF Education - EasyPost

Rigoberto is in the swansong of his career, but it was only in 2017 that he magically was able to score a second place overall position in a Tour de France that had very tight time differences all the way thru the mountains and into the final time trial. The last few years he has not been able to keep pace in the mountains and in particular mountain top finishes. He may be in a better situation this year to be a lieutenant to teammate Richard Carapaz.

Neilson Powless - EF Education - EasyPost

Neilson had a very admirable 12th place result at last years Tour de France. This year he seems to be continuing to grow in strength and skill as he has several good results in races this Spring including winning Etoile de Besseges.

Julian Alaphillippe - Soudal- Quickstep

Julian is always an entertaining rider at the Tour de France. He spent 14 days in the yellow jersey in 2019 and made all of France think he would achieve the seemingly impossible.I don't expect hm to match his 2019 exploits, but he could be a contender to wear the yellow jersey in the first week.

Mikel Landa - Bahrain Victorious

Mikel Landa was a member of the very successful Sky, now known as Ineos Grenadiers, for several years in the 2010s. He placed fourth in the 2017 Tour barely missing the podium by seconds. Since then he has attempted to win the Tour on several occasions with both Movistar and Bahrain Victorious. He is an excellent climber with decent time trial capabilities, but as he is getting older it appears he may be past his prime. Seeing him in contention throughout the Tour could make for some interesting tactical racing.

Guillaume Martin - Cofidis

The philosopher racer is a competent climber, but he is not at the capability level of the top contenders. He has been seen at the base of the final climbs with the leaders for most of the last three Tours, but he has yet to make the top five or really be close to the yellow jersey in the third week. His time trialing is sub-par, and can be considered his achilles heel to having more success in the general classification.

Ben O'Connor - Ag2r Citroen

Ben is a good young and up and coming general classfication racer who showed he could be a contender in 2021 when he managed to get in contention by being in a breakaway and nearly winning the stage to Tignes in a cold rain. Unfortunately 2022 was a wash when he crashed and eventually withdrew from the Tour. Can he replicate the 4th place finish from 2021?


THE TOP CONTENDERS

Egan Bernal - Ineos Grenadiers

Egan was the heir apparent to Chris Froome when he managed to win in 2019 by being in an advantageous situation when a freak hailstorm canceled the remainder of the stage to Tignes. In 2020 he would withdraw after not looking anywhere near the fitness level he had in 2019. 2021 would end up being a lost year for Egan as he suffered significant leg injuries in a training crash in Columbia. What will his capabilities after not racing for the majority of the last 18 months?

Romain Bardet - DSM

Romain is a two time podium place finisher. He looked capable of competing for the podium last year after the end of the Glannon stage, but would fade to finish 6th. A significant question is whether he is able to keep up with the top general classification contenders in the mountains. This is something that I don't recall him doing since 2017 when he finished in third place. The other question that must be posed is whether he has the team needed to support him if he is in contention.

Richard Carapaz - EF Education EasyPost

Carapaz is the reigning gold medalist in the road race and already has a third place in the Tour to his resume. He is a very good climber with decent time trialing capabilities. It should be pointed out that the time trial this year is short and the route is more suited to his skill set.

Enric Mas - Movistar

Mas has been tapped to replace Alejandro Valverde as the main star at Movistar, and has not always been able to meet these expectations. He is a very strong climber who may be just starting to realize his full potential. He has shown he can climb with the likes of Pogacar and Vingegaard, but he needs to do this consistently to remain in contention. He did show he could do this by being runner up in the Vuelta and Il Lombardia last year. He will need to perform well in the time trial to have a chance at the yellow jersey or even the podium. Time trialing is not a discipline Mas excells at.

David Gaudu - Groupama FDJ

David came to be known in 2019 as Thibaut Pinot's lieutenant as he looked poised to win the Tour de France with his strong riding throughout that Tour de France. Last year Gaudu rode to the best general classification placing of his career in 4th. He may have been the best of the rest, but he was not on par in the mountains, specifically mountain top finishes, as the top two from last year. The other key factor to remember is the time trialing is a distinct weak spot for him, and will likely be his achilles heal. He is likely France's best shot at winning the infamous maillot jaune, yellow jersey, awarded to the overall winner.

Tadej Pogacar - UAE Emirates

Tadej already has two Tour victories to his name, 2020 and 2021, but was the runner up last year. He has all the capabilities to win the race this year. He is an excellent time trialist and climber that can put the fear into any opponent with his knack for taking advantage of the altering stage dynamics to try and get time on his opponents. Everyone will remember his attack on stage 5 of last years' Tour on the pave sectors used for Paris-Roubaix.  His preparation for the Tour may have been hampered by an injury in late April. I would expect another duel between him and Vingegaard.

Jonas Vingegaard - Jumbo Visma

Jonas is the defending champion and will wear bib number 1. In order to win last year he had to defeat the defending champion Pogacar at every turn. He is young fast, even in time trials, and a very good climber.


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