Join Lionel Birnie, Graham Willgoss, Rob Hatch and François Thomazeau for the first part of The Cycling Podcast’s bumper Tour de France preview.

This episode focuses on the first half of the 112th Tour, which will take the riders from Lille in the north east, across to Normandy and Brittany before cutting down through the heart of France to the Massif Central.

The head-to-head battle between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard is currently tied at 2-2, with the Slovenian winning in 2021 and 2024 and the Dane taking back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023. But, as closely-matched as they often seem, none of those four clashes has been particularly close and, as we saw at the Dauphiné last month, Pogačar seems to have the upper hand at the moment.

So, will we see a battle royale between the Three Tenors – © Rob Hatch – with Remco Evenepoel one of the riders most suited to a punchy, scrappy opening week, especially with a time trial to contend with?

François breaks down the route and explains what we have to look forward to before the first rest day after ten stages.

Part two of The XL Tour de France Preview will be online soon...

We are very pleased to welcome Van Rysel as our sponsors for the first half of our Tour de France coverage. The Tour gets underway in Lille, the city where the company was founded and has its headquarters. The city is steeped in French cycling history and heritage, not least because the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are on the doorstep.

Van Rysel supplies bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale World Tour team, who feature Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Aurélien Paret-Peintre in their line-up for the Tour.

If you are going to Lille for the opening weekend make sure to drop in at Van Rysel House, a pop-up venue and hub for cycling fans. It’s located at Hein Estaminet in Place Saint-Hubert a short walk from the Euralille train station. It’s a place to have a drink or something to eat and watch the race on TV and there’ll be lots going on over the weekend with a quiz night to test your cycling knowledge each night at 8pm. There’s also some group rides setting out from there. A chance to see the Van Rysel bikes and the innovation that goes into their design.

Visit www.vanryselcycling.com to find out more.

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