Not since the days of Team Sky, when Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas ruled the roost, has the Tour de France seen such a monopoly.
With his win in the 2024 edition of the race, Tadej Pogacar has now won three of the last five renewals of the Tour de France.
As for the other two, they were claimed by Jonas Vingegaard; so you don’t need to be a mathematician to know that the pair have tied up the last five successive editions of the Tour de France.
So can we expect more of the same in 2025, or can somebody – anybody – come along and challenge their dominance?
Slovenian Surprise
According to bookmakers like Paddy Power, the terrible twosome will continue to dominate the ‘Grand Boucle’ into next year, with Pogacar the 8/15 favourite and Vingegaard the 7/4 next best.
Of course, the latest sports news and tips columns will be clinging to the hope that the 2025 Tour de France will have a new recipient of the Yellow Jersey. And there’s a possibility, whisper it, that a Slovenian other than Pogacar could be the man to do the job.
It would be fair to describe Primoz Roglic’s relationship with the race as love-hate. He 34-year-old has finished second and fourth in the General Classification in years gone by, but also failed to complete the race in each of his last three attempts.
A three-time winner of the Vuelta a Espana, Roglic has also won the Giro d’Italia – a race that has, in the past, been an excellent primer for success in the Tour de France.
In the past decade alone, four cyclists have won both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, so it’s certainly not a forlorn hope that Roglic will make it five in 2025.
King of the Mountains
One name that has flirted with the upper reaches of the General Classification standings at the Tour de France is Adam Yates.
He was the owner of the Yellow Jersey for four stages of the 2020 edition of the race, before doing likewise in 2023 – flying out of the gates to lead after stages one through four.
