Zürcher Nachrichten - Tour de France contenders and dark horses

EUR -
AED 4.311517
AFN 80.459001
ALL 97.861046
AMD 449.221187
ANG 2.100718
AOA 1076.404609
ARS 1470.290435
AUD 1.791892
AWG 2.112899
AZN 2.000281
BAM 1.955013
BBD 2.36186
BDT 142.592634
BGN 1.956686
BHD 0.442465
BIF 3485.327509
BMD 1.173833
BND 1.49851
BOB 8.082783
BRL 6.553268
BSD 1.170034
BTN 100.194118
BWP 15.628646
BYN 3.828176
BYR 23007.121999
BZD 2.349665
CAD 1.604917
CDF 3387.681116
CHF 0.932257
CLF 0.029042
CLP 1114.483409
CNY 8.428413
CNH 8.427867
COP 4721.155341
CRC 589.9727
CUC 1.173833
CUP 31.106568
CVE 110.221126
CZK 24.648254
DJF 208.307083
DKK 7.461233
DOP 70.142976
DZD 152.223833
EGP 58.176561
ERN 17.607491
ETB 162.306368
FJD 2.634901
FKP 0.864841
GBP 0.86252
GEL 3.181417
GGP 0.864841
GHS 12.209078
GIP 0.864841
GMD 83.926443
GNF 10151.089069
GTQ 8.990421
GYD 244.622628
HKD 9.214546
HNL 30.588215
HRK 7.530838
HTG 153.529541
HUF 399.309142
IDR 19041.328036
ILS 3.884618
IMP 0.864841
INR 100.434424
IQD 1532.376982
IRR 49447.704165
ISK 143.407551
JEP 0.864841
JMD 186.993974
JOD 0.83225
JPY 171.616637
KES 151.365347
KGS 102.651416
KHR 4697.150304
KMF 494.183253
KPW 1056.423672
KRW 1612.059556
KWD 0.35849
KYD 0.974804
KZT 606.623365
LAK 25203.752916
LBP 104810.480117
LKR 351.667023
LRD 234.536643
LSL 20.882514
LTL 3.466023
LVL 0.71004
LYD 6.326482
MAD 10.564498
MDL 19.827108
MGA 5177.894824
MKD 61.530165
MMK 2464.470539
MNT 4212.368283
MOP 9.458295
MRU 46.636324
MUR 53.080621
MVR 18.074825
MWK 2028.375324
MXN 21.8418
MYR 4.989986
MZN 75.078902
NAD 20.850323
NGN 1793.616166
NIO 43.04305
NOK 11.834586
NPR 160.312236
NZD 1.953052
OMR 0.451335
PAB 1.169734
PEN 4.152629
PGK 4.907109
PHP 66.216227
PKR 333.957537
PLN 4.242845
PYG 9066.391117
QAR 4.265302
RON 5.073068
RSD 117.164962
RUB 91.794533
RWF 1683.276171
SAR 4.402767
SBD 9.786155
SCR 17.225646
SDG 704.881407
SEK 11.152469
SGD 1.50142
SHP 0.922448
SLE 26.414414
SLL 24614.690259
SOS 668.528197
SRD 43.725855
STD 24295.968071
SVC 10.234839
SYP 15262.325911
SZL 20.849523
THB 38.253444
TJS 11.317395
TMT 4.120153
TND 3.421238
TOP 2.749233
TRY 46.999799
TTD 7.942771
TWD 34.302327
TZS 3084.286863
UAH 48.893221
UGX 4199.328454
USD 1.173833
UYU 47.321164
UZS 14870.01764
VES 133.35479
VND 30639.969489
VUV 140.042854
WST 3.231986
XAF 655.690416
XAG 0.032209
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.172342
XDR 0.815468
XOF 655.696
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.891327
ZAR 20.844629
ZMK 10565.899751
ZMW 28.454674
ZWL 377.973668
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Tour de France contenders and dark horses
Tour de France contenders and dark horses / Photo: DAVID PINTENS - Belga/AFP

Tour de France contenders and dark horses

A star-studded line-up sets off on the 2025 Tour de France from Lille on Saturday for one of the most keenly awaited editions of the 21-day race in recent times.

Text size:

AFP Sport takes a look at the key competitors this year:

Tadej Pogacar (SLO/Team UAE Emirates)

The ever-improving 2024 triple crown winner is once again the man to beat at the Tour de France. The passionate competitor who always races to win is gifted with an unanswerable uphill kick, world-class handling skills and a deep reserve of mental and physical stamina. He has won the Tour de France three times (2020, 2021 and 2024), the Giro d'Italia, the world title and nine of the one-day monument races. A self-described "good boy from a good family taking no short cuts in life", he has both swagger and modesty to go with his new deal worth 50 million euros ($58.6 million) over the next six years.

Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/Visma)

The softly-spoken and slightly-built Vingegaard is the man with the plan and has beaten Pogacar hands down twice to prove it. After a near-death crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in 2024, he rode beyond expectations at the Tour to come second, due as much to tactical acumen as to force. He grew up in a remote corner of Denmark racing into bleak coastal winds, but is most at home in intense heat in the high mountains. Of the favourites he is the most adept climber and descender and has made a virtue of meticulous tactical planning and patience. Small wonder that "the little guy" emerged from a big squad packed with climbers as the expansive-thinking Visma's lead man.

Remco Evenepoel (BEL/Soudal Quick-Step)

Who could forget Evenepoel's iconic moments at the Paris Olympic Games, posing at the finish line with the Eiffel tower behind him as he added the road race gold to the time-trial title. He had been tipped to win both at Tokyo, before falling into a ravine and taking two years to get back on form. Evenepoel can now target a Tour de France title, but may need to change teams to a Grand Tour-minded outfit to do so. Long-range stamina and mind-bending acceleration are the skills that mark him out from his rivals. He can certainly expect to defend the best young rider's white jersey and third-place finish he achieved in 2024.

Primoz Roglic (SLO/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

Possibly the strongest athlete in the field, time is running out for the 35-year-old Roglic to bury his 2020 sorrows by winning a Tour de France. His last-day meltdown on the Planche des Belles Filles time trial as Pogacar snatched the title was an excruciating spectacle. Roglic discovered cycling while doing physio for a harrowing ski-jump accident, and perhaps lacks the handling reflexes Pogacar learned as a child. His new team Red Bull have given him carte blanche at the Grande Boucle, assuming he can avoid the rotten luck that has blighted his Tour de France campaigns. He would make a popular winner to crown a career that features four Vuelta a Espana wins and one Giro title.

Dark horses

Egan Bernal in 2019, Pogacar in 2020 and Vingegaard in 2022 all upset the odds to win unforgettable titles. So who are the riders to watch out for in 2025 with ambitions to upset the established order? Should something happen to either Pogacar or Vingegaard, the pair are backed up by Adam and Simon Yates respectively. The British twins are both noted climbers and descenders, and Simon has already won the Giro and the Vuelta. Beyond the big four teams there is also sleeping giant Ineos with Spanish climber Carlos Rodriguez, Lidl-Trek's Danish all-rounder Mattias Skjelmose and Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, who would be a first French winner in four decades.

P.Gashi--NZN