Tour de France 2023: Yates and Pogacar eye Vingegaard’s crown

Intrigue was added just three days before the start of the Tour de France 2023 as Adam Yates’ status provided a potential plot twist.

For the last 12 months this Tour has been billed as a rematch between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar – who between them have been both winner and runner-up in each of the last two editions.

The pair tower above any other contender – their pedigree and form pointing to a two-horse race from the moment last year’s Tour was packing up in Paris – with Vingegaard the 11/10 favourite in the Tour de France 2023 outright betting just ahead of Pogacar at 5/4.

Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard has won three stage races this season – including pre-Tour tune-up the Criterium du Dauphine in June – while barely seeming to get out of second gear.

Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates’ Pogacar piled up 12 victories in 19 days of racing before crashing out of Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April with a broken wrist.

The 24-year-old almost immediately resumed training on a turbo trainer at home, then posted pictures on social media as he got back out on the road sooner than predicted.

All the signs suggested Pogacar was fit, fresh and ready to go in his bid to win a third Tour de France, and nobody would have been dissuaded from that view with the way he cruised to the Slovenian national title on his return to racing last weekend.

But as Tour de France 2023 teams and riders began to descend on Bilbao this week, Pogacar’s team boss Mauro Gianetti offered up some counter-intelligence.

“Adam (Yates) will not just be there to support Tadej, he will be our co-leader this summer,” Gianetti told L’Equipe.

“We really don’t have a choice. Tadej spent five weeks without being able to train on the road. There are no miracles in cycling. You have to get the miles in. He has worked hard, we have a lot of faith in him, but we’re not certain of anything.”