Alberto Contador ‘worried’ about Tadej Pogacar’s Tour de France preparations as battle with Jonas Vingegaard looms

Alberto Contador has admitted he is worried as to whether Tadej Pogacar’s wrist injury has impacted on his Tour de France preparations, but feels the Grand Tour is between the Slovenian and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard.

Pogacar had a stellar spring, winning Paris-Nice, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne to suggest he was in excellent shape to battle for a third Tour de France win.

But the UAE Team Emirates star’s plans were thrown into disarray when he crashed at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and broke his wrist.

He has not been seen in competitive action since the injury in April, and has elected to miss his usual tune-up at the Tour of Slovenia.

The bookmakers have found it tough to split the pair at the head of the Tour de France market, but Eurosport expert Contador is worried about Pogacar’s preparations.

“I am worried,” Contador told Eurosport when asked if he was concerned about the well-being of Pogacar. “But what worries me isn’t his wrist during the race. What worries me is how that wrist injury has affected his preparation.

“It’s clear that they will have had to change a lot of plans. They will have had to reorganise altitude camps, restructure race calendars, reschedule training plans of riders he was supposed to be with, etc.

“It will have been a real challenge, so we will have to see how the Tour de France goes for them.

“So I don’t think it’s all about how his wrist might affect him on the Tour de France, but more about how it has affected Tadej Pogacar’s preparation to enter this Tour de France in optimal form.”

Contador feels it will be a tight battle, but thinks Vingegaard could have the edge due to the firepower of his Jumbo-Visma team-mates Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss.

The two-time Tour de France winner said: “If we are only talking about those riders, then we have to watch out for Vingegaard. Why? Because of Van Aert.

“Van Aert is not just a crucial rider in the mountains, Van Aert is a crucial rider on any terrain. He showed us last year on the cobbles. And we know how great Kuss can be.

“What is true is that the UAE team have really done their homework this year. They have reinforced their team substantially and the team is a lot more competitive than it was in 2022. So overall, the two teams are very close heading into this Tour de France.”

Contador believes the second Grand Tour of the season is a two-horse race.

“To be totally honest I think these two riders are on another level,” Contador said. “There are a lot of quality riders who might make things difficult for them, but I think Pogacar and Vingegaard are the big favourites – they are so good all around, whether we are talking about time trials, mountains, even sprinting which allows them to grab bonus seconds.”

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