BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Tadej Pogačar will start his quest for a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title when the race kicks off in neighboring Spain on Saturday.
The elite Grand Tour begins with a team time trial in Barcelona, an opening stage which will take riders past the city’s famous Sagrada Familia basilica and finish with a short climb up a hill overlooking the popular tourist destination.
Pogačar is the overall favorite thanks to his Tour victories in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025, as well as his strong form this year.
The Slovenian sensation is aiming to join the select crowd of Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to have won cycling's most prestigious race on five occasions.
Jonas Vingegaard is once again his biggest challenger. The Dane took home the yellow jersey in 2022 and 2023 and is aiming to complete the men’s Giro-Tour double.
Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG will start Saturday's 19.6-kilometer (12.1-mile) team time trial last, just ahead of Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike.
The three-week race will cross into the French Pyrenees on Stage 3. Stages 19 and 20 culminate at the famed Alpe d’Huez climb in the Alps, which comes just 24 hours before the 21st and final stage ending on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
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