Comments on: Tour de France 2022: GC Favourites https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2022-favourites/contenders-tdf-2022/ Cyclingstage.com: stages, routes, riders and results Mon, 11 Jul 2022 06:02:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 By: Jan https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2022-favourites/contenders-tdf-2022/#comment-19786 Tue, 21 Jun 2022 17:42:27 +0000 https://www.cyclingstage.com/?p=19794#comment-19786 I’ve been waiting for your predictions and mostly agree with them. I would mention all these names, but
– last statements suggest that MA Lopez is very unlikely to participate in the Tour de France. He can’t get back to fitness after injuries from Giro. Another post-Giro convalescent is Simon Yates, whose knee condition is also unsure and he might not race in Grande Boucle too.
– Adam Yates 4* while Thomas with two stars? I can’t agree. GT had awful 12 months but in Suisse he proved that he’s back to strength. Right on time. He owns the most recent proof of great form from any Ineos GC contenders. He has legendary status of a former winner and longtime Sky/Ineos team member. Thomas definitely gonna be Ineos no.1. Martinez has a great season, a little bit worse Suisse but still promising and 3 stars seem to be deserved. Adam Yates, as I like his riding style, I don’t put much faith in him ahead of Tour, I rate him lower than Thomas and Martinez. He may be affected by covid and generally it’s not a good spring for him. DNFs in Catalunya and Suisse. He is 30-years-old and still never finished any Grand Tour on the podium. Adam Yates would get only 2 stars in my prediction.
– Last opinion. I would give both Bahrain riders Caruso and Haig two stars instead of David Gaudu. Gaudu is completely inconsistent this season. He had disappointing last stages of Basque Country and Dauphine. In addition, he was dropped early in Mont-Ventoux stage of last year’s TdF. While both Caruso and Haig achieved Grand Tour podiums in 2021, they finished Dauphine GC in Top 5 quietly, which is a good sign before July.

What name you add to the GC favourites list if Astana confirms riding Tour without Lopez? Fuglsang, Meintjes, Pinot or someone from team EF-Education? Thanks for these preview articles.

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