Jonas Vingegaard is coming off a Giro d’Italia victory, but Tadej Pogacar remains favourite and can take his fifth title
Two strings to the Dutch team’s bow: Jasper Philipsen to add to his 10 stage wins and repeat his 2023 points jersey, Mathieu van der Poel to do VDP things: crazy breaks, forceful lead-outs, sniffing out openings. Philipsen has just won the Tour of Belgium; his co-leader hasn’t won since March but was a force in the spring Classics, then after time out from racing, ran Pogacar close in the Tour de Suisse time trial. He also copped a fine for going topless in the leader’s hot seat; not many make headlines merely for sitting down, but that’s charisma for you.
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