{"id":205511,"date":"2026-06-16T12:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=205511"},"modified":"2026-06-16T12:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:19:10","slug":"pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/06\/16\/pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Huge Favourite to Win His First Tour de Suisse Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the recent Tour Auvergne\u2013Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes is anything to go by, three of the five stages of the Tour de Suisse, which starts on Wednesday, will be dominated by breakaways. That\u2019s right, five stages and not the traditional eight. Organisers have reduced the time and distance of the race to save money \u2013 and, presumably, that\u2019s also why every race starts and ends in the same place.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The exceptions to the breakaway scenario are stage 4, a 24 km ITT, and stage 5, a gruelling mountain stage featuring 4,226 metres of altitude gained over its 150 km. That should be sufficient for the always odds-on favourite, Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG), to demonstrate his superiority.<\/p>\n

That final stage consists of three loops of the so-called Col de la Croix circuit, which means three climbs of that redoubtable mountain, but only the last two start at its foot. The lesser climb, which comes at the beginning of the stage, is a Category 2 ascent (3.9 km @ 8.8%) and should already eliminate some chaff from the wheat. The two ascents of the entire mountain are rated Beyond Category (HC) (19.1 km @ 7%), and will probably shrink the peloton to a precious few. And then comes a backbreaker of a finale.<\/p>\n

That for-some-unknown-reason uncategorised climb (9.6 km @ 8%) to a not-quite-summit finish should serve as the perfect venue for Poga\u010dar\u2019s inevitable winning attack. If you have any doubts, listen to the man himself. \u201cTraining has gone very well, both individually and as a team, and I\u2019m arriving at the Tour de Suisse feeling strong and motivated,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s my first time racing here, which makes it even more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

You bet he wants to win this race, if only because he hasn\u2019t raced it before and so hasn\u2019t won it yet. Not only is he strong, but he\u2019s coming to the starting line in Sondrio with a very strong team, including Nils Politt and Tim Wellen for the flats and Felix Gro\u00dfschartner, Brandon McNulty, Domen Novak, and recent Giro d’Italia three-stage winner Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez for the hills and mountains.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t be surprised if Narv\u00e1ez wins a breakaway stage or two, or at least gives Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin\u2013Premier Tech), Romain Gr\u00e9goire (Groupama\u2013FDJ United), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5),and home favourite Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla)a run for their money \u2013 though Pidcock will probably be more interested in the GC and will want to shadow Poga\u010dar in the mountains.<\/p>\n

Good luck with that. Pidcock is a terrific rider and has made great strides in the past two years, but he\u2019s not going to beat Poga\u010dar. He last raced on May 1, when he finished second in the Frankfurt-Eschborn one-day race. He scored an excellent win in Milano-Torino and a marvellous second place in Milano\u2013San Remo, when he was nipped by Poga\u010dar in the sprint, but despite his third place in last year\u2019s Vuelta, he has yet to prove that he can threaten the Grand Tour favourites. Perhaps he will do well enough on stages 1 to 4 and then minimise his losses on stage 5\u2019s final climb to make the podium.<\/p>\n

But there are some other excellent climbers in the race, such as Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious). This year, the 22-year-old Frenchman finished second in the Volta a Catalunya and third in the Tour de Romandie, 2:44 behind Poga\u010dar. He might get closer this year because when he\u2019s fit, he always has one terrific mountain stage in his legs. If he doesn\u2019t lose much time on the early stages, he could fight for a podium spot.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s veteran Richard Carapaz (EF Education\u2013EasyPost), who won this race five years ago and the Giro d\u2019Italia in 2019. He\u2019s 33 now and coming off a disappointing spring campaign disrupted by surgery in early April to treat a perineal cyst, a condition caused by long hours in the saddle. Recovery time took much longer than anticipated and severely delayed his training. As a result, he was forced to miss the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/a> He didn\u2019t race again until June 14, in the GP Gippingen. So his form is questionable.<\/p>\n

Finally, Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe) has had a winless and otherwise undistinguished year, but he will not be racing the Tour de France this year, so he may be in the mood to go for something big in the Tour de Suisse. He won\u2019t beat Poga\u010dar, but if he has regained much of his best form \u2013 he won\u2019t have it all; he\u2019s 36 \u2013 he may surprise. I\u2019d love to see him make the podium before he goes for one last shot of glory in the Vuelta.<\/p>\n

As for van der Poel, I suppose that he will be going for stage wins in the Tour and so will be targeting stages here as well. He last raced in Paris-Roubaix more than two months ago and has been preparing for his Tour start since then. Expect him to be strong early here, battle with Narv\u00e1ez and perhaps Schmid for stage wins and then jog to the finish line over the Col de la Croix.<\/p>\n

Some of the \u201cbreakaway stages,\u201d especially stage 2, may end in a sprint, which would then be contested by Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarch\u00e9), Kaden Groves (Alpecin\u2013Premier Tech), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), and Matthew Brennan (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike). So, though the race has been shortened, it still has the potential to give everyone a share of the excitement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the recent Tour Auvergne\u2013Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes is anything to go by, three of the five stages of the Tour de Suisse, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":199203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7350,2933,3065,3415,3871,3250],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-205511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-kaden-groves","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-richard-carapaz","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tom-pidcock","tag-tour-de-suisse","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nPoga\u010dar Huge Favourite to Win His First Tour de Suisse Title - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the recent Tour Auvergne\u2013Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes is anything to go by, three of the five stages of the Tour de Suisse, which starts on Wednesday, will be dominated\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/06\/16\/pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poga\u010dar Huge Favourite to Win His First Tour de Suisse Title\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If the recent Tour Auvergne\u2013Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes is anything to go by, three of the five stages of the Tour de Suisse, which starts on Wednesday, will be dominated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/06\/16\/pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T12:19:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2025\/07\/Tadej-Pogacar-2025-Tour-profimedia-1026246264-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Siegfried Mortkowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/06\/16\/pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/06\/16\/pogacar-huge-favourite-to-win-his-first-tour-de-suisse-title\/\",\"name\":\"Poga\u010dar Huge Favourite to Win His First Tour de Suisse Title - 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