Tadej Pogacar targets fifth Tour de France win, Vingegaard as rival

Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar enters the 2026 Tour de France aiming to equal the record with a fifth overall victory. The three‑week Grand Boucle starts in Barcelona on 4 July and will finish in Paris on 26 July. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, the 2022 and 2023 champion, is his main rival and hopes to claim a third Tour title after a dominant Giro d’Italia win.

Pogacar, the four‑time defending champion, arrives after a season that included wins at Milan‑San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Liège‑Bastogne‑Liège, Strade Bianche, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. He has raced only 16 days this year, logging 13 victories. Vingegaard has logged 35 racing days with 12 wins and seeks to add the Tour to his résumé.

Other contenders mentioned are France’s 19‑year‑old Paul Seixas, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, Mexico’s Isaac del Toro, and several strong teams from Italy, Belgium and Britain. Media and riders alike describe the Pogacar‑Vingegaard duel as “spectacular” and expect it to shape the race’s outcome.