Tour de France 2025: who do you want to win?

[Cookster15]

I don't find Rogla boring and while he has a reputation for crashing he can do a fearsome descent on occasion* and we know he can deliver a crushing TT or MTT when in top form - ask Geraint Thomas.

*I don't recall exactly which Tour or stage when he did that descent it was maybe 2020 or 2021?

For me it would be a fairy-tail if Roglic can win. But I don't think the fairy-tail can overcome Tadej who I expect to be even stronger than in 2024. Jonas Vingegaard has his work cut out uninjured or not.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

*I don't recall exactly which Tour or stage when he did that descent it was maybe 2020 or 2021?

2018 Stage 19

 

[QueenStagiaire]

This must be a bad joke. A lot of his Vuelta wins were due to gaining time on uphill sprints and TTs.

Really, were they? In 2021 he at least did an exciting raid on the Covadonga Stage, other than that, yeah, pretty much. 2019, I also don‘t think he was that exciting, but 2024 he definitely had to do a lot. He didn‘t really gain that much time on uphill sprints outside of 2020, he just wasn‘t dropped in the Mountains and dominated the TT.

 

[Gratemans]

famous for overcoming adversity and has the driest most hilarious interviews whilst always remaining fair play when he loses.

Cool guy, even when he never wins the Tour. Easy to cheer for as well because of everything that can go wrong and will go wrong.

I don't really care about background stories. If he would come from a wealthy family I see no reason to hold that against him nor does it make his athletic performances any less impressive for me.
But I wholeheartedly agree with the part I quoted. He's funny, a nice guy and I hugely respect his zen-like approach whenever he runs into bad luck (again).
Also, he looks good on a bike. Aesthetics matter to me as well.

From the rest of this list.. I don't know. Almeida or Gall would be fun I guess. But we all know none of the ones I mentioned are going to win it.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

He was pretty aggressive and animating in the 2023 Vuelta, too...

 

[Cookster15]

2018 Stage 19

Thanks, your great memory is noted!

 

[Berniece]

Preferably Remco, but if for some reason he is out then Roglic. He deserves a TDF win in his career.

 

[Gigs_98]

Roglic' reputation was made when people complained their way through the 2020 Tour. Then the 2023 Giro people made up their mind midway throught the Giro anyway when he attacked any time basically almost every time he could after the first rest day.

The uphill sprinty boy thing has been a bigger feature in stage races and 1.pro races than the GTs

C'mon man. You can't seriously be arguing his reputation is only due to the 2020 Tour and the 2023 Giro. It feels useless to even come up with counterexamples because that claim is so obviously wrong.

Like, I have a soft spot for him as well even though I think he's a very boring racer. But just because people root for him they cannot make up facts to feel better about rooting for a mountain sprinter.

 

[Gigs_98]

Almost local guy Felix Gall, no brainer for me.

The Gall gang is only gonna grow. Also I saw a poll on an Austrian website recently where the vast majority said he was gonna top 5 this Tour. So since the average Austrian clearly knows a lot about cycling I would say he must be in for a great race.

 

[Netserk]

C'mon man. You can't seriously be arguing his reputation is only due to the 2020 Tour and the 2023 Giro. It feels useless to even come up with counterexamples because that claim is so obviously wrong.

Like, I have a soft spot for him as well even though I think he's a very boring racer. But just because people root for him they cannot make up facts to feel better about rooting for a mountain sprinter.

Tirreno 2023 was bad. Romandie 2019 as well.

That's more or less it. The Dauphinés have been as good as they could be. His wobbles have made the PNs good as well.

 

[Berniece]

Tirreno 2023 was bad. Romandie 2019 as well.

That's more or less it. The Dauphinés have been as good as they could be. His wobbles have made the PNs good as well.

Catalunya 2023 was bad too

 

[Netserk]

Catalunya 2023 was bad too

It was very watchable, and how he raced helped it so.

 

[Red Rick]

C'mon man. You can't seriously be arguing his reputation is only due to the 2020 Tour and the 2023 Giro. It feels useless to even come up with counterexamples because that claim is so obviously wrong.

Like, I have a soft spot for him as well even though I think he's a very boring racer. But just because people root for him they cannot make up facts to feel better about rooting for a mountain sprinter.

I mainly argue that it's narrative driven, and you go and prove my point by basically stating "he's a boring rider" as a preestablished fact that warrants no explanation in the most dogmatic way possible.

People pay attention to Roglic winning an uphill sprint in the Dauphine because it fits the circlejerk and ignore him being the main aggressor in a different stage when it doesn't.

And I cite the 2020 Tour becuase he was mostly more assertive than Pogacar all throughout - but he got absolutely torched for being too passive, and the 2023 Giro where he was the most aggressive GC rider of the lot, winning in a dramatic fashion at the end while the consensus is that it was a gobshite edition of the Giro.

Other riders get more praise for aggression and less criticism for passivity.

 

[Valv.Piti]

No surprise Roglic leads the poll. Why he does is quite the mystery to me - boring style on and off the bike IMO. But he has a cult following on this site.

Voted Pog, but if I could just ignore the realities of Mas not being anywhere close in July, he'd be my pick. Just way too unrealistic.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

My vote is for an extremely realistic Kevin vauquelin tour de France win. He could save the arkea team

Would like to see alaphiliphile in polkadots and merlier in green.

The startlist is not so good for riders I am very partisan towards. No Fausto, landa, langelotti.

If I had to vote for a name mentioned in the poll instead of giving an 'other' vote, it would be to Roglic. Not a huge fan of him but given his history with the race, it would be by far the nicest outcome.

I have no idea how jorgensen keeps sneaking on these polls. At least his mum hasn't logged in to vote yet.

 

[fenns]

Roglic for me. It would be nice to see him win cos otherwise he will always be remembered for 2020 - which seems cruel.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I feel that much of the Rogličes critique, on when it comes to "boring racing" is a result of two things. First one being some cycling fans are just not Rogla fans, they need to have some sort of excuse, something. Second one, this one likely being the culprit, back in the day Rogla was so dominant that "boring racing" emerged as coping mechanism, for some. Just like now Pogi is often accused of being boring, the way he races. Basically coping for some.

Now is such level of dominance really boring racing, well, yeah, to some extent yes. But there is more to it.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I think the Roglic stage race analysis really should be down as a matrix with Boring / Exciting on one axis and Passive / Aggressive on another. This is far from comprehensive because I don't have the time to do the research and I don't have the encyclopedic knowledge of others, but I think it looks something like this to start. Where would Tour 2018, Giro 2019, and his one-week races go?

Boring - Passive:

• ?

Boring - Aggressive:

• ?

Exciting - Passive:

• Tour 2020 (too passive, likely due to Dauphine crash and poor prep; some pretty epic moments anyways, including the dramatic collapse)
• Vuelta 2020 (probably running on fumes but still exciting, as covered by Rackham earlier in the thread)
• Catalunya 2023 (trolling Remco and winning without putting your nose in the wind? Passive, sure, but also exciting)

Exciting - Aggressive:

• Vuelta 2021
• Vuelta 2022 (I mean, did you see the Fred Wright stage?!)
• Vuelta 2023 (dispatched Remco, dramatic intra-team dynamics but maybe not "exciting" to some)
• Vuelta 2024 (attacked almost on every stage it would make sense to attack except for the cold one)
• La Fleche Wallone (way too early, my man)

 

[Breh]

Obvious Alaphilippe win is obvious, but I'd probably like any French rider winning the GC.

Mas if I'd have to pick a genuine top10 contender.

Pog if I'd have to pick an actual contender.

 

[perico]

This must be a bad joke. A lot of his Vuelta wins were due to gaining time on uphill sprints and TTs.

Don’t forget the time bonuses

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The rider with the less disgusting fans, whoever that might be

The one with the least fans.

 

[tigabara]

I want Tadej to win. He is the best at the moment, so why should someone else win. This is racing. The best wins. And at the moment the best is Pogacar.

 

[Berniece]

I want Tadej to win. He is the best at the moment, so why should someone else win. This is racing. The best wins. And at the moment the best is Pogacar.

This isn’t who you think would win, but who you want to win. If you are a fan of someone particular or ignoring who is the better rider of you just want someone else to win

 

[Hugo Koblet]

The Gall gang is only gonna grow. Also I saw a poll on an Austrian website recently where the vast majority said he was gonna top 5 this Tour. So since the average Austrian clearly knows a lot about cycling I would say he must be in for a great race.

He will have quite a few minutes deficit to overcome after week 1 due to crosswinds, positioning, and, of course, the ITT, but of course there are a lot of minutes to win in the third week. I think he can challenge for a top 7 and if everything goes perfect, even a top 5 is not out of the question.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

It's a little bit pathetic how offended the Roglic fanboys/girls get when you call the objectively most conservative big-name rider of this decade boring. That's what, four people trying to argue that ackshually, he doesn't race negatively?

As for the poll, I'd happily take anyone who isn't an alien, past or present, except for Almeida, on account of him sharing responsibility for making the 2023 Giro unwatchable and riding for the too-dominant sportswasher team. The problem is that the remaining group of GC riders has about the same odds of winning this race as I do.