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If the Tour de France matchup of Tadej Pogačar versus Jonas Vingegaard wasn’t enough already, the 2024 edition will see Primož Roglič enter the fray as another five-star rival.
The Slovenian’s high-voltage transfer to Bora-Hansgrohe adds another explosive dimension to the 111th edition — not to mention the likely debut of Remco Evenepoel as well — and all teams are already bracing for the summer sparks.
Vingegaard admitted it will be “strange” to race against his former mentor and teammate who won the 2023 Giro, but decided to move to Bora-Hansgrohe after he was overlooked for a return to the Tour this season.
“Of course, it will be strange to race against Primož. So far I have only raced with him on the same team,” Vingegaard said Wednesday. “It will feel strange to race against him and try to beat him.”
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Next year’s Tour could see spectacular showdown between Vingegaard, Roglič, Pogačar, and Evenepoel, with the Belgian superstar expected to make his Tour de France debut.
“If the four of us are there fighting for it, it will be a beautiful race,” Vingegaard said. “I have raced against Remco a few times. I am looking forward to racing against him. It will be a big fight.”
That could be the understatement of the winter.
Plugge: ‘We know how strong of a rider he is’
Primož Roglič will now be a rival to Jumbo-Visma in 2024. (Photo: Gruber Images/Velo) (Photo: Gruber Images/Velo)
Jumbo-Visma is already plotting how it will be able to beat back Roglič, who could emerge as Vingegaard’s most dangerous rival.
Not taking anything away from Pogačar, but team boss Richard Plugge seemed more unsettled about racing against the team’s former star than two-time winner Pogačar.
The “Killer Bees” have cracked the Pogačar code, and Plugge admits that racing against Roglič won’t be an easy lift.
“Next year he is a competitor, and we will have to beat him,” Plugge said Tuesday at the Velo d’Or prize ceremony. “We know how strong of a rider he is, and it will be difficult.”
The former ski jumper was the team’s “king,” as Plugge likes to call him, and was the key rider who helped put the team on its winning ways when it started to climb out of the doldrums in the mid-2010’s.
Plugge insists there are no hard feelings about Roglič’s departure, and said he opened the door for his departure once it was obvious Roglič wanted leadership at the 2024 Tour.
“If people want to part ways, I have too much respect for Primož to make a big deal out of it. And he for us,” Plugge said. “Of course, we are on good terms, and we are still friends. He is still the big man and our king from 2016, who helped us to start to win. He will always be part of our history, and we are so proud of what we did together.
“He wanted to go another way, and that’s OK. If you are a parent, and the kids want to leave the house. I am happy for him that he found a good place,” he said. “Now we have to beat him.”
Now Vingegaard and Co. have to find a way to beat him.
Bora-Hansgrohe: ‘Two TTs and several altitude meters bode well for our plans’
Can Bora-Hansgrohe deliver Roglič to yellow? (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)
Roglič did not attend Wednesday’s official unveiling of the 2024 Tour route, but he will like what’s packed into three weeks of non-stop racing.
The opening hard weekend in Italy will suit his style, including stage 2 that finishes on a loop over the San Luca climb where he won Giro dell’Emilia earlier this month.
Two time trials should also keep Roglič in the frame, and his versatile skills and an explosive finale should see him on equal footing with Pogačar in the chase for time bonuses.
The big question mark for Roglič will be how he fits in with the unknown lineup at Bora-Hansgrohe.
The German-based team won its first grand tour in 2022 with Jai Hindley, and the Australian rode to seventh overall and won a stage in the 2023 Tour.
Bora-Hansgrohe promises to protect and support Roglič all the way to Nice for the final-stage time trial on the Côte d’Azur.
“At first glance, it’s a balanced Tour de France,” said Bora-Hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk. “For the fans, it’s exciting that the GC favorites have to show themselves straight away in the first week, and that the decision about yellow won’t likely be made until the final TT.”
Denk said he likes the altitude and time trials that are packed into the course, but echoing others, he’s no fan of the 30km of gravel spread across 14 sectors in stage 9.
“Two TTs and several altitude meters bode well for our plans,” Denk said. “It is well known that I am not a fan of cobbled and gravel sectors in grand tours. That’s what the classics are for, in my opinion. We are now analyzing the course in detail, also comparing it with the Giro and making our plans accordingly.”
We can’t wait for next year 👊 How do you like the route of @letour? #borahansgrohe #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/sXdhpZZ64k
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) October 25, 2023