Tour de France: a return to the glory days?

The Tour de France is unquestionably the world's biggest bike race. On paper it may not be any more gruelling or difficult than its equivalent three-week races the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, but the Tour has a stature that reaches beyond regular cycling audiences and attracts millions of spectators at the roadside and on television.

It is no wonder then that most of the sport's best riders build their entire year around the Tour. However, "even by the standards of the world’s biggest race" the 2024 edition looks like being one of the most "star-studded" in recent history, said Rouleur. The four best all-round riders in the world – Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard – will all be vying to wear the prestigious yellow jersey when the race concludes in Nice on 21 July.

'Open and unpredictable'

Every year the Tour organisers change the route of the race, often tipping the scales in favour of one rider or another, and presenting opportunities for stage wins to riders of all types. 

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This year's route – which begins in Florence, Italy on Saturday –  is "all about balance", said Escape Collective, with the combination of mountains, time-trials and flatter stages favouring an "all-around talent" rather than just a specialist, like a pure climber. That could be the platform for the four favourites, all of whom are remarkable all-round cyclists, to provide a spectacular edition of the race.

But all four also have "something holding them back", said Eurosport, heightening the narrative. Race favourite Pogačar may be battling fatigue from winning the Giro in Italy in May, while the other three all suffered injuries of differing severity after a huge crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. Roglič and Evenepoel have returned to racing since with "varying degrees of success", but Vingegaard will make his comeback at the Tour. It means the overall race (known as the "general classification", or "GC") will take place under a rare "set of circumstances" that have made the "modern-day Tour so open and unpredictable".

However, the beauty of the Tour also lies in its subplots to the overall race. This year's race could feature a particularly historic moment if Britain's Mark Cavendish can "claim the outright record" of stage wins and "go one clear" of the legendary Eddy Merckx by making it 35 victories, said the Daily Mail.

The race will also feature two other outstanding talents, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, who too will look to increase their own stage win tally. A strong field is also bolstered by some of the strongest teams the race has ever seen, with many of those supporting riders capable of making a "challenge for a Grand Tour podium themselves", said Cycling Weekly.

'Different to 20 years ago'

Yet this assembly of generational talent will inevitably bring with it the "question of anti-doping and drug testing", given it is "nearly impossible" to talk about extraordinary performances at the Tour without it arising, said Bicycling. 

Highly publicised doping scandals in the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in the doping admission of the former seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, mean that for many "professional cycling and doping will always be linked", said Cyclist, despite the sport having remained "relatively free from doping headlines over the past few years".

It has meant that recent spectacular performances, including those of Pogačar in 2020 and 2021 and Vingegaard in the past two years, have brought "scepticism surrounding their impressive form", said the Daily Mail. 

That has led to riders regularly being "quizzed" on allegations of doping during the race. Last year, eventual winner Vingegaard said he understood that it was "hard to trust in cycling" because of past scandals, but that he believed "everyone is different than 20 years ago".