BARCELONA, July 3 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar is the "undeniable favourite" for this year's Tour de France, which begins in Barcelona on Saturday, according to Tour director Christian Prudhomme.
"He is the undeniable favourite, without a doubt," Prudhomme told reporters on Friday, a day before the first-stage team time trial.
The Slovenian, twice defending champion, is bidding for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France to join greats Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain. Pogacar's main rival will once again be Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard.
"Jonas Vingegaard has regained all his abilities, he had certainly lost some after his horrific crash in the Tour of the Basque Country (in 2024)," Prudhomme said.
"We’ve seen him win by a huge margin at Paris-Nice, in Catalonia and in Italy, but we've yet to see him go head-to-head with Pogacar."
The Tour de France director also hailed the precocity of Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old Frenchman who will become the youngest rider to start the Tour since 1937.
"Cycling has always been regarded as a sport in which athletes reach their peak later in life. This is no longer the case for him, but he is not the only one," Prudhomme said.
"I think he can really give us a lot of emotions. He will target the best possible position in the general classification, which leaves room for all sorts of hopes and boldness.
"The Tour lover that will always be inside me obviously wants to see a French victory one day. The higher he is in the classification, the happier I’ll be," he added.
Prudhomme, who began his tenure in 2007 and is set to lead this year his 20th edition, dismissed any ideas that he would step down.
"I don’t feel completely exhausted yet. I’m not going to stop at the first bend," the Tour director said.
(Reporting by Horaci Garcia and Vincent Daheron in Barcelona; Editing by Toby Chopra)
