I think this race will be saved by its field. If this was raced in 2016 or 2017 I would be way more pessimistic, but frankly I feel like Pogacar vs Roglic vs Ineos will somewhat deliver even on a mediocre route such as this. My main issue is still the lack of hard early stages. I appreciate your guys optimism about the first two stages but I'm 99% certain both of those will be total borefests ending in an uphill sprint. Stages 8 and 9 I fear are too soft to see a major gc battle, just like all of the pyrenees stages except stages 17 and 18. I guess that's my main issue here, that I feel like the gc battle might come down to just three mountain stages. I do actually like many of the softer stages here and think they will lead to great breakaway battles, but they are simply no replacement for proper high mountains.
It's also where my hope comes in that Pog vs Rog vs Ineos will deliver anyway, because not all of those parties will want to let it come down to pure watt fests on the Ventoux and the two late mtf's. I'm hoping for big team attacks by Ineos, Pogacar to maybe surprise me in the Alps trying to get yellow early, or some crosswind battles in the 2nd week. The fact that there are three parties entering this race that won't be satisfied by anything but the win alone makes this endlessly more exciting than those godforsaken Tours Froome won with Bardet and Uran behind him enjoying their July stroll to a TdF podium.