Juventude.life!Le Tour 2025"Your Life! Your Way!"

This year’s Tour de France, starting on July 5th, is set to host another high-tension rivalry between Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Soudal-QuickStep. Last year’s crowned champion, Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates, will try to defend his title against Jonas Vingegaard of Visma, who has already won the competition twice, and Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep, who recently won a gold medal in the time trial stage of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Before the Tour, the trio will clash in the “Critérium du Dauphiné,” which is considered to be a warm-up for the Tour de France. Historically speaking, the results of the Critérium have corresponded with the results of “the Grande Boucle,” since Jonas Vingegaard, Bradley Wiggins, and Chris Froome, to name a few, had all won it before they became the champions of the Tour de France that year. However, one can even make some guesses regarding the performance of the trio without waiting for the conclusion of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The reigning champion of the Tour de France 2024, Tadej Pogačar, has so far claimed 3 stages in the Criterium, demonstrating he has not lost one bit of his might. He had already bagged Monument titles and contended in the Paris-Roubaix tour before coming for the Tour de France. It should also be noted that since May, Pogačar has been training and racing in very high-altitude events that can benefit him during “Le Tour.” It is rumored that he will be spending some time at an altitude camp prior to the 5th of July, the location of which is unknown.

Since his brutal crash in the Tour of the Basque Country in 2022, the two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is still one of the best contenders in “the peloton.” The crash he sustained in 2022 punctured his lung and broke his collarbone and ribs. The injuries he had to endure and the whole hospitalization process ultimately affected his race performance. However, the Dane proved in 2024 that he is still one of the most powerful challengers for the title, winning the 11th stage of the Tour and beating his main rival Pogačar one-on-one. After the stage, Vingegaard said that “Three months ago, I really believed I was going to die. Now, sitting here with a stage win in the biggest race in the world, it’s incredible.”¹ Though he showed great ambition winning the 11th stage, this win alone couldn’t help him win the Tour, as he finished the competition in second place behind Pogačar and ahead of Evenepoel.

Having won an Olympic medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Remco Evenepoel will definitely try to improve his latest position in the Tour. Unfortunately for Remco, one of Soudal-QuickStep’s domestiques, Mikel Landa, had a crash at the Giro d’Italia and is expected to miss the Tour, which might mean the assistance Remco will receive from his teammates during the Tour is to be diminished. Nonetheless, Remco showed a lot of signs of improvement but also doubts throughout 2025. He has already raced in the Ardennes Classic and the Tour de Romandie and is currently racing in the Criterium. Will he be able to keep up with the beasts Pogačar and Vingegaard? We will have to wait and see.

With only weeks remaining for the most prestigious and popular tour of the year, the Peloton seems stronger than ever. Although the prime candidate is still Pogačar, it is clear that no one will give him anything on a silver platter.