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2020 Tour de France preview: the contenders

The GC field offers more than just Bernal vs Roglič

August 27, 2020
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On the surface, the 107th Tour de France looks like a showdown–the third since the beginning of August–between two high-powered teams: INEOS and Jumbo-Visma, riding for reigning champ Egan Bernal and Primož Roglič respectively. But the carnage of the Critérium du Dauphiné might make this Tour the most unpredictable edition in years. Let’s take a look at the Tour de France yellow jersey contenders.

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Egan Bernal (Colombia/INEOS): Bernal’s Tour de France victory delighted some and saddened others. With Nairo Quintana looking on forlornly, Bernal became the first Colombian to win the Tour. Although two different riders looked like they might have the wherewithal to be the first Frenchmen to win the race in 34 years, providing enthralling competition, Bernal continued Sky/INEOS’s utter stranglehold on the Tour. Bernal was the fourth INEOS man to triumph in eight years, with only one of those editions going to a non-INEOS rider.

This year the INEOS machine might not be as dominant as it has been over the past decade. Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas’s exclusion were surprises–surely you want Tour winners riding in support of your protected man. Bernal, after coming second best to Roglič in the Tour de l’Ain, dropped out of the Dauphiné with a bad back while in seventh place. However, INEOS still can flex with Richard Carapaz, rising star Pavel Sivakov and tireless workhorse Michal Kwiatkowski, and Bernal is still, along with Roglič, the odds-on favourite.

By the way, INEOS will be known as the INEOS Grenadiers for the Tour.



Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma): Roglic claimed his first Grand Tour last year at the Vuelta a España after earning his first Grand Tour podium at the Giro. Clearly the former ski jumper is among the peloton’s stage race elite. Could Roglic and Jumbo-Visma finally crack the INEOS code in 2020? The Dutch Bees are bringing new acquisition Tom Dumoulin, Wout Van Aert, American climber Sepp Kuss, Robert Gesink, Kiwi Gran Piemonte winner George Bennett, Tony Martin…wow.

The loss of 2019 podium finisher Steven Kruijswijk to a shoulder separation suffered in the Dauphiné is a significant blow to the team, and Roglič’s own Dauphiné crash injuries not only caused him to drop out of the race before the last stage while leading but also made for speculation that he wouldn’t race the Tour. This uncertainty casts a pall over Roglič’s status as co-favourite.

Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia/UAE-Team Emirates): The second Slovene on this list, Pogacar is also the youngest at 21. After an impressive 2019 Tour of California title, he came third to Roglič and Alejandro Valverde in the Vuelta, overleaping Nairo Quintana and Angel Lopez on the race’s final mountain while earning his third stage win.

UAE-Emirates figures he’s ready to lead the Grand Boucle after one year in the WorldTour and a single Grand Tour. Teammate Fabio Aru is scheduled to race as well, but the Italian’s best Grand Tour result since the 2017 Tour de France is 13th. Aru and Sergio Henao will work for the young Slovene, who claimed February’s Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage race and was runner-up in the shortened UAE Tour. He didn’t look too stellar at the Dauphiné, but came fourth, rising from ninth on the final day partially because Roglič and Emanual Buchmann didn’t start and Mikel Landa had nasty cramps.

Tadej Pogačar winning on Cortals d’Encamp, his first of three stage victories in the 2019 Vuelta. Photo: Sirotti

Thibaut Pinot (France/Groupama-FDJ): Over the last few years, Pinot has risen to become one of the main concerns of INEOS at the Tour de France. However, in that same time he has become known for getting terribly ill or hurt in the late stages of Grand Tours while occupying high positions on GC. Pinot was 20-seconds behind Bernal when a mysterious knee injury forced him out of last year’s Tour and ended his season.

Although Pinot has DNFs in four of his last six Grand Tours, he has come fourth and sixth in the ones he has completed. David Gaudu and Swiss duo Sébastien Reichenbach and Stephen Küng will be key teammates at the Tour. The Gallic ace took fifth in Paris-Nice but couldn’t hold the Dauphiné lead he was handed on the final day when Roglič didn’t show up.

Thibaut bid farewell to his goats before leaving for the Tour.

Mikel Landa (Spain/Bahrain-McLaren): Is Landa finally free? Now with the brightly-clad Bahrain-McLaren team following Vincenzo Nibali’s departure, Landa was the best out of Movistar’s “trident” in last year’s Tour and came fourth in the Giro while working for winner Richard Carapaz. No longer labouring for others at Astana or Sky or Movistar, the talented Spaniard now has free rein at the Tour. The Spaniard had an early season scare when a motorist hit him during a training ride. Wout Poels, another new Bahrain-McLaren rider, will be in his corner. Landa plummeted down the Dauphiné GC on the last day because of cramps.

Landa is finally free. Now what can he do in the Tour?

Top-10 Men
After Rigoberto Uran’s runner-up spot in the 2017 edition and seventh last season, Jonathan Vaughters has another Colombian hopeful at EF Pro Cycling in the form of Dani Martinez, who “did an Andrew Talansky” by winning the Dauphiné on the last stage.

Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) didn’t race for almost 400 days before coming 11th in the Tour de l’Ain and seventh in the Dauphiné is support of Roglič.

After his injection of panache and drama into the 2019 Tour, swashbuckling Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) must be considered a threat to the GC places of the rest of the riders on this list.

Guillaume Martin of Cofidis just might surprise everyone and finish as the top Frenchman.

After two Grand Tour podiums in 2018, last season was a mild disappointment for Astana’s Colombian Angel Lopez, but Superman will be top-5 and stage hungry in his debut Tour de France.

It is going to be difficult for Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) to fill the Quintana-and-Landa shaped hole at Movistar, and with luck he’ll be more of the Mas who was runner-up in the 2018 Vuelta than the one who was 22nd at last year’s Tour. Movistar also sends Marc Soler and Alejandro Valverde, so expect the team’s usual leadership shenanigans and/or the team competition prize.

Can Tour Down Under champion Richie Porte (Australia/Trek-Segafredo) finally shake off his curse and ride Bauke Mollema’s support into his first Grand Tour top-5 since 2016?

Nairo Quintana won’t be getting as much WorldTour action as he’s used to now that he’s with ProTeam Arkea-Samsic, but his fourth place in last year’s Vuelta and stage victories in his last two Grand Tours—not to mention winning his first two stage races of 2020—show that the Colombian is still dangerous.

Finishing just off the podium in 2019, Emanuel Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) will have a strong team for an attempt to step up, but like Bernal and Roglič, he has the specture of Dauphiné injuries hovering over him.