Tadej Pogacar continues to look unstoppable. When the reigning Tour de France champion begins his title defence in Lille on Saturday, he will do so as the strong favourite to win cycling's greatest road race for a fourth time at the age of 26. The Slovenian became the first rider to win six stages in a single edition since Mark Cavendish in 2009 as he dominated last year's edition of the three-week race, finishing more than six minutes clear of closest challenger Jonas Vingegaard. His grip on the peloton appears only to have tightened in 2025. Pogacar earned the most recent of his 11 wins this year in ominous fashion at the eight-stage Criterium du Dauphine in June - a race that gives a good indication of a rider's form heading into the Tour. Pogacar won three stages as he took the title by 59 seconds over Vingegaard. That took him to 99 career victories in stages, races and general classifications - a record among active riders - following his success at one-day races Strade Bianche, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, La Fleche Wallone and the Tour of Flanders, and the week-long UAE Tour earlier this year. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, who is also the reigning road world champion, will be aided by a strong team featuring his super domestique Joao Almeida. But, over the course of 21 gruelling stages - which in the race's 112th edition will demand riders tackle the feared climbs of the Hautacam, Mont Ventoux, Col de la Loze and La Plagne - and with world-class threats around him, victory for Pogacar will be far from certain until the peloton crosses the traditional finish line on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The case for the contenders Of those hoping to deny Pogacar, two-time champion Vingegaard holds the most realistic hope. The Dane, 28, knows how to beat Pogacar, having recorded dominant victories in both 2022 and 2023 as the pair's exciting rivalry has played out over recent years. The intensity of that competition can be best summarised by the statistic that, across the past four Tours combined, Pogacar holds an overall lead of just one minute and 25 seconds over Vingegaard - about one second per stage. Also in Vingegaard's favour is that Visma-Lease a Bike arguably boast the strongest team, with Britain's Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates, and experienced Grand Tour riders Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson all in support. Vingegaard's preparations last year were affected by his serious crash at the Itzulia Basque Country and, while he suffered a concussion in a crash at Paris-Nice in March, he appears to be hitting form after finishing second to Pogacar at the Dauphine. Completing last year's podium was Remco Evenepoel, who achieved an impressive third place on his race debut. Belgium's double Olympic champion, who won road race and time trial golds at Paris 2024, carries Soudal-QuickStep's hopes following a fourth-place finish at the Dauphine, but he has yet to hit his very best form since suffering multiple injuries in an accident while on a training ride in December. And, while he demonstrated his time trial abilities in winning stage four, the former Vuelta a Espana winner finished more than four minutes behind Pogacar overall. The 25-year-old was pipped to the podium there by Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, who are expected to prioritise Primoz Roglic in their hunt for a general classification podium place. The team's head of performance Dan Lorang admitted to cycling website Velo, externalthis month that the rider's fellow Slovenian Pogacar is one level above, adding: We have to accept that's how it is, and we cannot negotiate it. Nevertheless, Roglic, left devastated when compatriot Pogacar snatched Tour de France glory from him on the penultimate stage in 2020, has excellent Grand Tour pedigree as a five-time winner of cycling's multi-week races (four Vuelta a Espana titles and one Giro d'Italia victory). But after winning the Volta a Catalunya in March, Roglic crashed out of this year's Giro and it remains to be seen whether the 35-year-old can recover in time to compete with the best at the Tour. Should he struggle, the team could decide to unleash exciting 24-year-old German Lipowitz, who has also placed second overall at Paris-Nice and fourth at the Itzulia Basque Country in 2025. Time, points and jerseys - how does the Tour de France work? While the spotlight is on the battle for the overall Tour de France victory, there is much more going on. In addition to stage wins, riders and their teams will be contesting four jerseys across the 21 stages: Yellow jersey: General classification - the overall race leader who has completed the race in the shortest time (last year's winner - Tadej Pogacar) Green jersey: Points leader - cumulative points won in stages (points on offer vary depending on stage type) and intermediate sprints (last year's winner - Biniam Girmay) Polka dot jersey: King of the mountains - cumulative points won on categorised climbs (last year's winner - Richard Carapaz) White jersey: Best-placed young rider under the age of 26 (last year's winner - Remco Evenepoel) Those more suited to sprinting will go head-to-head for stage victories when the terrain allows, with the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan among the main contenders after record-breaker Mark Cavendish retired last year. Expect to see aggressive riders like Julian Alaphilippe seeking breakaway opportunities in pursuit of stage wins for their teams. British team Ineos Grenadiers will be among those chasing stage glory, but Briton Tom Pidcock, who left to join Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, will not contest this year's Tour de France.
