07/04/26 08:22:00
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07/04 08:21 CDT Pogacar starts quest for 5th Tour de France title with team
time trial in Barcelona
Pogacar starts quest for 5th Tour de France title with team time trial in
Barcelona
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) --- Tadej Pogacar will start his quest for a
record-equaling fifth Tour de France title when the race kicks off in
neighboring Spain on Saturday.
The elite Grand Tour begins with a team time trial in Barcelona, an opening
stage which will take riders past the city's famous Sagrada Familia basilica
and finish with a short climb up a hill overlooking the popular tourist
destination.
Pogacar is the overall favorite thanks to his Tour victories in 2020, 2021,
2024 and 2025, as well as his strong form this year.
The Slovenian sensation is aiming to join the select crowd of Belgian Eddy
Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard
Hinault as the only riders to have won cycling's most prestigious race on five
occasions.
Jonas Vingegaard is once again his biggest challenger. The Dane took home the
yellow jersey in 2022 and 2023 and is aiming to complete the men's Giro-Tour
double.
Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG will start Saturday's 19.6-kilometer
(12.1-mile) team time trial last, just ahead of Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike.
The three-week race will cross into the French Pyrenees on Stage 3. Stages 19
and 20 culminate at the famed Alpe d'Huez climb in the Alps, which comes just
24 hours before the 21st and final stage ending on the Champs-lyses in Paris.
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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
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