Alberto Contador 'worried' about Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France preparations as battle with Jonas Vingegaard looms

Alberto Contador has admitted he is worried as to whether Tadej Pogacar’s wrist injury has impacted on his Tour de France preparations, but feels the Grand Tour is between the Slovenian and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. Pogacar had a stellar spring, winning Paris-Nice, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne to suggest he was in excellent shape to battle for a third Tour de France win. Ad But the UAE Team Emirates star's plans were thrown into disarray when he crashed at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and broke his wrist.

Giro d'ItaliaExclusive: Evenepoel 'must be broken' at withdrawal as 'new Giro begins' — Contador15/05/2023 AT 14:01 He has not been seen in competitive action since the injury in April, and has elected to miss his usual tune-up at the Tour of Slovenia. While Pogacar has been limited to work on the indoor bike, Vingagaard has been flexing his muscles on the road and was an impressive winner of the Criterium Du Dauphine. The bookmakers have found it tough to split the pair at the head of the Tour de France market, but Eurosport expert Contador is worried about Pogacar’s preparations.

How to watch the 2023 Tour de France Tour de France stage guide and analysis “I am worried,” Contador told Eurosport when asked if he was concerned about the well-being of Pogacar. “But what worries me isn’t his wrist during the race. What worries me is how that wrist injury has affected his preparation.

“It’s clear that they will have had to change a lot of plans. They will have had to reorganise altitude camps, restructure race calendars, reschedule training plans of riders he was supposed to be with, etc. «It will have been a real challenge, so we will have to see how the Tour de France goes for them.