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Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar an odd couple leading Slovenia's charge to glory | William Fotheringham

Roglic came to cycling late after starting out as a ski jumper while precocious talent Pogacar has been steeped in the sportFrench headline writers love to adapt the sentence used on level crossings by the national rail company to warn that if the red lights keep flashing, another train may be coming. The 2020 Tour de France is a landmark edition in various ways, but with Tadej Pogacar snatching a last-gasp, unlikely win from Primoz Roglic on Saturday, the old level-crossing cliche, un train peut en cacher un autre, could sum up the past three weeks: one Slovenian can come in the slipstream of another.Nailing first and second in the biggest bike race in the world is a huge step...

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Ineos and Jumbo-Visma struggling to make Tour a battle of super-teams | William Fotheringham

The Tour de France has not panned out as predicted, with neither heavyweight looking dominant. What has gone wrong for the big two?The rearranged 2020 Tour de France was billed as the battle of the super-teams, Manchester City versus Barcelona on two wheels. In the burgundy corner, Team Ineos, the squad of galácticos that have dominated the Tour since 2012, winning seven times with four different riders. In the yellow and black corner, the Dutch upstarts Jumbo-Visma, who have built a team gradually around the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, and put it in a new dimension last year by adding the 2017 Giro d’Italia winner, Tom Dumoulin.Two weeks in, that battle has yet to materialise and it may not happen even...

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Adam Yates joins exalted company at Tour de France but has eyes on future | William Fotheringham

The Mitchelton-Scott rider, who joins Ineos next season, has arguably been less successful than his twin, Simon, but now he leads the Tour de France this could be his momentThere were two surprises after Wednesday’s finish when Adam Yates pulled on the yellow jersey of the Tour de France, which he wore into the first Pyrenean stage of the race on Saturday. The obvious shock was in the way that Yates was awarded the maillot jaune – the passive verb is important here – when Julian Alaphilippe and his Deceuninck–Quick-Step team made an unlikely unforced error that earned the French favourite a time penalty. More disconcerting perhaps was the fact it has taken the best part of seven professional seasons...

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