Vine can do literally the same as Yates did this year. Do nothing, stay out of trouble, come to the front on mountain stages
I still think the locks are Pogacar (duh), Almeida, Narvaez, Wellens, and Politt.
The main question for me is either Del Toro leads the Giro and Almeida is dom for Pogacar at the Tour and leads the Vuelta afterwards or Almeida leads both Giro and Vuelta and Del Toro is dom at the Tour. I would also send Vine to the Tour, same role as Yates had this year aka do nothing, don't care about lost time, be there in the mountains. I think the decision will also be influenced by the TTT on stage 1
I think it's much more likely Almeida gets a GT as a leader and the Tour as dom (+ aim for podium) while Del Toro gets whatever GT Almeida doesn't go to. IMO, Del Toro wants another tilt at a GT as leader before getting to go as dom at the Tour.
Sivakov was fine in 2024. He's a solid domestique if he's on form. Just sucks that he got sick this year before the Tour headed to the mountains and that seemed to hamper his form for the rest of the Tour.
I thought it was gonna be unlikely but I don't have a problem with it. If he feels he has enough in the tank after the spring classics, then why not go for it? He's not going to the Giro anyway so it's just an additional week of racing before resting and going to altitude training for his Tour prep.
5 to 7 race days between SB and Romandie. He should easily win Romandie, then rest, altitude and the Tour. Skipping Dauphine and Suisse.
He'll go back to Itzulia when he's going back to the Giro but since it's held later than Catalunya (2 weeks later), it will probably mean that he would have to miss Liege.
Why skip Dauphine/Suisse if he rides Romandie? It should be fine to ride Romandie, rest, altitude, then Dauphine/Suisse. I do still think Romandie is unlikely next year after the classics season though.
It's been the same story literally EVERY SINGLE YEAR since 2021. Pogi says he wants to do the Vuelta then he rides the Tour then he comes out of it exhausted and then he decides not to do the Vuelta. The only time the Vuelta was not even considered was in 2024 when he did the Giro-Tour double.
That is true BUT there was always good reason why he skipped it. Last 2 years he really had perfect WC route and year before he crashed at LBL and was really empty after TdF. Also why fight with Jonas at Vuelta, without Jonas that is 50% easier to win. I wrote schedule as SB-MSR-RVV-P-R-LBL-Romandie, TdF, Vuelta, WC,EC, GdL would be perfect like already after Lombardia but everybody think WC 2026 is like Kigali-and it is not. Team Slovenia will strugle much more than in Kigali. I also believe Del Toro will not ride any GT as captain this year and will help Pogi at TdF.
While it's fun to watch, current history shows Tadej's win margin is not greatly impacted by a slower TTT. Doubt that will change this year.
Yeah, I think this is true. Now he's won two WCs in a row, he may opt not to prioritise the WC next year. So, he'll race the Vuelta then see how he does. 2027 looks good for him too, so he'd have another shot then.
TdF, Vuelta, WC, EC and Lombardia? Even for Tadej that's too much if you want to win them all
If he's going to aim for a Tour podium, he'll likely only aim for stages at the Vuelta.
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