Favourites keep apart in lead up to Tour de France

The Tour de France promises perhaps one of the greatest yellow jersey battles in recent memory when it begins in one month’s time. Four-time champion Tadej Pogacar will be aiming for a record-equalling fifth success but he is likely to face stiff competition from a rejuvenated two-time former winner Jonas Vingegaard and teenage prodigy Paul Seixas. But with all three opting for a very different pre-Tour build-up, cycling fans will have to wait until the Grand Boucle itself to watch the favourites go head-to-head in a stage race.

It is a curious feature this season, in which cycling’s best stage racers have largely managed to avoid each other. In fact, Pogacar, 27, and Vingegaard — winners of the last six Tour de France editions between them — have only faced each other once since last year’s race, at the one-day European Championships in October. Having just won the Giro d’Italia, Vingegaard — whose only other two events this year were the week-long Paris-Nice and Tour of Catalonia stage races — will not race again before the Tour.