The Tour de France is days away – does anyone look likely to challenge Tadej Pogačar?

There are days until the 2026 Tour de France, with teams setting off down the start ramp of the team time trial in Barcelona on stage one on the afternoon of Saturday 4 July.

It is just hours until we will be tracking the world's best cyclists around l'Hexagone. You can read the full start list here, and check out the route guide while you're at it.

Therefore, we thought this would be the perfect time to assess the runners and riders that will likely take to the start line of the 113th edition of the race, all of whom will harbour some hope of pulling on the yellow jersey 23 days later in Paris. This is the Cycling Weekly power list.

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There are two former winners on this list, and two Tour de France debutants, one of whom is also the next great hope of French cycling.

Of course, what no one can ignore is the fact Tadej Pogačar appears to be unbeatable. He won the last two Tours in such dominant fashion most people probably assume he's nailed on to win. But he isn't. A loss of form, injury or tactical miscalculation are never more than one bad day away.

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 27
Nationality: Slovenian
Tour de France appearances: 6
Tour de France overall wins: 4
Tour de France stage wins: 21
Best GC position: 1st

Indisputably the best male bike rider in the world, Tadej Pogačar has dominated the last two Tours de France, and there is little evidence that this is going to end soon. Last year he only won four stages on his way to overall victory by four minutes, despite suffering from a back injury during the races latter stages.

This season, it has gone pretty well so far: 16 race days, 13 victories. An expected masterclass at Strade Bianche was followed by an epic sprint win at Milan-San Remo, edging the Slovenian closer to completing the set of Monuments.

He went on to win the Tour of Flanders, and finish second at Paris-Roubaix, before winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège again. The Slovenian won four stages and the overall at the Tour de Romandie, and then three stages and the overall at the Tour de Suisse.

It's hard to see where the cracks in Pogačar's armour are, although the route this year does not necessarily allow for him to crush all in his customary manner, although I'm sure he will try.

It's hard to bet against him.

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Age: 29
Nationality: Danish
Tour de France appearances: 5
Tour de France overall wins: 2
Tour de France stage wins: 4
Best GC position: 1st

Jonas Vingegaard's season couldn't have been more different to Tadej Pogačar's. There was no one-day racing, instead a total focus on stage races, and the Giro d'Italia was the priority before even beginning to think about the Tour.

The Dane, the reigning Vuelta a España champion, completed the set of Grand Tours with a Giro title in May, and hopes to then carry that form into the Tour in July. Pogačar completed the Giro-Tour double in 2024, so could Vingegaard do the same? It will be tricky, although he won the second Grand Tour he took part in last year.

Vingegaard did not race before Paris-Nice this year, due to illness, but his performance there certainly would have made many take notice.

He went on to win at the Volta a Catalunya, with two stage wins, before winning four stages en route to victory at the Giro by five minutes, another Pogačar-like ride.

3. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 22
Nationality: Mexican
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

As Pogačar's teammate, Isaac del Toro not Plan A for UAE. If anything happens to the Slovenian, though, he would be thought of as a contender alongside Vingegaard.

Denied a maiden Grand Tour victory at the Giro d'Italia last year due to Simon Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike brilliance, and some odd tactics, the 22-year-old is clearly a rider who could win a Grand Tour, the question is just when.

In 2026, Del Toro has won the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, to boot. He seems to be able to do it all, like his starrier teammate, it just remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to ride his own race or work fully in support of Pogačar. There could easily be a UAE one-two in Paris at the end of July.

4. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)

Age: 19
Nationality: French
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

The breakout rider of 2026 is Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old French star. There's a lot of pressure from France on the teenager's shoulders, but it doesn't appear to have affected him too much yet, with impressive performances at Algarve, the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Strade Bianche starting his season.

He went on to win Itzulia Basque Country and La Flèche Wallonne to send the hype machine into overdrive, before second-place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, he was forced to quit the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after crashing, which tampered expectations a bit.

We don't know how he will fare in a Grand Tour, considering he's never raced one before, let alone the behemoth which is the Tour. However, Decathlon definitely have a star on their hands.

5. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe)

Age: 26
Nationality: Belgian
Tour de France appearances: 2
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 2
Best GC position: 3rd

After the first few races of 2026, there was a lot of talk around Remco Evenepoel, including from myself. The Belgian won seven of his first 11 races this season, including Valenciana overall, and looked to have truly hit the ground running at his new team.

However, a disappointing end to the UAE Tour saw those expectations cooled, and there remains a bit of mystery around Evenepoel ahead of the Tour. He hasn't raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liége, and his last stage race was the Volta a Catalunya in March, where he finished third.

He still managed to finish third at the Tour of Flanders and Liège, winning the Amstel Gold Race in between, so all is not lost, but his form is unknown.

He will have a solid team, including last year's third-place, Florian Lipowitz, so will have more backing than he ever did at Soudal Quick-Step. That said, though, it is still a bit up-in-the-air if he can deliver on the same level as Vingegaard over three weeks and over the high mountains, let alone Pogačar.

6. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)

Age: 23
Nationality: Spanish
Tour de France appearances: 1
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

Juan Ayuso hit the ground running at Lidl-Trek, winning the Volta ao Algarve in his first race at his new team, before an untimely crash took him out of Paris-Nice while he was in the race lead.

He failed to finish Itzulia Basque Country, too, but returned to form at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he finished third behind his former teammate Isaac del Toro.

The Spaniard, free of super-domestique duties at UAE Team Emirates, can now show his old team what they're missing, although he is yet to thread together a complete performance at a Grand Tour. That said, he has finished third and fourth overall at the Vuelta.

Lidl have been building a solid GC team, and with Ayuso at the point of the spear, are serious contenders.

7. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5)

Age: 26
Nationality: British
Tour de France appearances: 3
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 1
Best GC position: 13th

Third at the Vuelta a España last year, second at Milan-San Remo, a winner four times this year, Tom Pidcock is clearly a star of the peloton. However, he's on the record as not going for GC at the Tour, instead aiming for a stage win.

This will be Pinarello Q36.5's aim at their debut at the biggest race of them all, but there's also no reason why Pidcock couldn't aim at the top 10, if not higher, at the Tour. He proved last summer that he can ride Grand Tours, after years of promise, and this Tour could suit him.

Best of the rest

Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) was sixth at the Tour last year, and could easily repeat that again in July. He was fifth at the recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Fellow top-10 finisher Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) will surely be aiming for stage wins over GC, but he could defy expectations again.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third last year, but has moved out of the limelight with the arrival of Evenepoel to his team, but is a fantastic option for his squad, and it would not be a surprise were he to shine brighter than his starrier teammate. Other teammates of riders of the list to watch out for include Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), although one would think these are secondary or tertiary choices for the overall.

Netcompany-Ineos' Kévin Vaquelin finished in the top 10 last season, but for different teams. He finished in the top 10 of the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice and Itzulia Basque Country this year. Alongside double-stage winner from last year Thymen Arensman, they are the British team's best hopes for the top 10.

Also with the chance of finishing high are Antonio Tiberi and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla).