Think of Hinault vs LeMond, Armstrong vs Ullrich, Froome vs Wiggins - these gladatorial battles create the daily soap opera that sells the race.
This decade has been dominated by the fight between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The Slovenian Pogacar - the born racer, the charismatic chancer, the powerful poser against Denmark’s Vingegaard - the shy, stealthy climber.
In terms of personality, these two couldn’t feel more different. Pogacar is the joker in the pack; he is willing to lose the race to win it, he is the all-out attacker, animating days when he has no right to. His unpredictability is in stark contrast to the Dane's.
Vingegaard is all strategy and clinicality. His damage will be done in the mountains, whereas his rival can affect the race in a multitude of ways.
They return to the Tour having, between them, won the last five editions. Pogacar has won three of them, Vingegaard the other two.
It is the Slovenian who is the reigning champion, who dominated in 2024 against a recovering Vingegaard. The Visma-Lease a bike rider had suffered a serious crash in the Basque Country earlier in the season that saw him collapse a lung and break his collarbone. It was a miracle that he started the race last year, let alone be competitive.
He would finish second, but more than six minutes behind his eternal rival. This year, that time gap should be a lot closer.
What can we expect this year?
The 2025 edition of Le Tour begins in Lille on Saturday with 21 stages around France before finishing in Paris on July 27th.
Intermingled between those two cities are five flat stages, 10 hilly and five mountain stages. The first week is for the sprinters and the puncheurs - those who have a kick on the hills - before we hit the first mountain test on stage 12.
That will be where the battle between the two truly commences. A 180.6-kilometre stage that finishes up the fearsome Hautacam (13.3km at 8%).
Looking at the season before the Tour, it points to: advantage Pogacar. He has ridden two stage races this season, winning both, and had an imperious classics campaign, taking two monuments in the process.
For Vingegaard, a concussion at Paris-Nice has hampered his preparation somewhat, but he has won one stage race in the Algarve before finishing runner-up to Pogacar at the Criterium du Dauphine in June.
In reality, it is hard to put that result last month into context. Since then, both riders have been at altitude training camps, fine-tuning their form for the Tour, meaning we won’t know their true performance until the second week of the race.
The best thing for the sport, however, is that both come into the race fully fit. In the last two editions, one of them went into the race with an injury scuppering their preparation. We haven’t seen a straight fight between the two since 2022, the year Vingegaard and his team ambushed Pogacar with a stunning blitz on stage 11 to Col du Granon.
Who has the better team?
Although only one person can win the Tour in Paris, cycling is still a team sport. Both Visma and UAE Team Emirates’ squads will play a part in the outcome of the yellow jersey.
Both teams are stacked with talent. Joao Almeida - the recent winner of the Tour de Suisse - leads the armada for UAE, with valuable mountain domestiques like Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soller also there to assist their leader.
For Visma, former grand tour winner Sepp Kuss will most likely be Vingegaard’s last man in the mountains, whilst Matteo Jorgensen, Simon Yates and Wout van Aert will also be there to support.
Looking at the eight-man teams side-by-side, they are remarkably similar, suggesting they are both ready to take charge on any day of the race. If one of their leaders loses time in the first week, both teams are well prepared to launch riders up the road to weaken their rivals and gain back time.
To say who is strongest is incredibly challenging, but the fact that Visma have the 2025 Giro d’Italia winner in their midst as well as Kuss, means they have the arsenal to provide UAE with constant headaches.
Who can spoil the party?
The beauty of cycling’s grand tours is that one crash, one puncture, one bad day over the three weeks can lose you the race.
At this year’s Giro, Primoz Roglic was the big favourite, but he abandoned on stage 16 after suffering four crashes in the race, admitting “it was too much” to carry on.
This is the reality of stage racing. One bad moment can cost you. There will be 184 riders taking the start in Lille, and not all of them will make it to Paris. Discipline and attentiveness will be crucial for Pogacar and Vingegaard if they are to win the race.
But, what if they don’t? Who could cause a shock if they falter?
The name top of the list is Remco Evenepoel. Ever the bridesmaid when up against the dominant pair, the Belgian raced his first tour last year, finishing third, more than nine minutes behind Pogacar.
He has won a grand tour though - the 2022 Vuelta a Espana - so he has pedigree, and he is the best time-triallist between the three. However, his explosiveness on the climbs is something that is lacking. He will need some imagination to win the tour outright, potentially going into breakaways and taking back time in the two time-trials.
Other names floated to win the yellow jersey are Roglic and Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull - BORA - Hansgrohe, Enric Mas of Movistar, and Ben O’Connor of Jayco Alula. But all of these riders will need a lot of luck and ingenuity if they are to cause a shock.
The duel between Pogacar and Vingegaard will consume the race throughout the three weeks. The debates will rage over who is better online and in the media, but the best thing for those who love the sport is that we get to watch them slug it out on level terms once again.
