Pogacar and Majka are all set, and they proved it two weeks ago in a race around Slovenia, winning two stages and taking two places in the general classification.
The 23-year-old Slovenian will fight for his third consecutive victory in the “Grand Ring”. When he won for the first time in 2020, on his debut and as the youngest cyclist in 116 years, his success was a sensation. Last year, he really dominated the competition, beating Jonas Weinggaard, who finished second at the finish line, by five minutes 20 seconds, and Ecuadorean Richard Carapaz by more than seven minutes. There have been no such big differences since 2014, when Italian Vincenzo Nibali won.
Pojacar’s most dangerous rivals will be the players of the Dutch Jumbo-Visma group – Vinggaard and Slovenian Primoz Roglic. The riders of the Ineos Grenadiers, led by Britain’s Adam Yates and Colombian Daniel Martinez, must count on the fray for the podium. Their support was announced by the Tour de France 2018 winner, Briton Geraint Thomas, who, despite being 36 years old, is still in great shape and won the Tour de France 2018 two weeks ago. The “Grenadiers” will not include Michal Kwiatkowski, who is treating the injury.
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Apart from Majka, three poles will start: Maciej Bodnar (Total Energy), Kamel Gradak (Bahrain-Victorious) and Okas Osyan (Arkia-Samsik). They are all experienced and are expected to play supporting roles in their teams. On June 22, in Leonsen near Warsaw, Bodnar and Gradek won the gold and silver medals of the Polish Championship in an individual trial.
The favorites for the time trial on the flat road in Copenhagen will be Italian world champion Filippo Gana (Inios Grenadiers), Roglic, who won Olympic gold at this competition in Tokyo, and teammate Bilge Wut Van Aert. In this year’s individual trial stages, Pogacar finished fourth in the UAE Tour and third in Tirreno-Adriatico. He won both of these races.
The stage will end 19.10
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