Tour de France: Orla Chennaoui on Mark Cavendish’s chase for glory and other riders to watch

The 110th Tour de France kicks off today in Bilbao, with 176 riders tackling the grueling 2,115-mile course over 21 days of testing.

Mark Cavendish is attempting to win a record-breaking 35th stage of his last Tour and the veteran was remarkably relaxed ahead of his highly anticipated final dance.

Elsewhere, all eyes are on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, the two favorites who are once again poised to battle for the sacred yellow jersey.

There are also a number of other riders, including British, to keep an eye on.

Here, ORLA CHENNAOUI, leading cycling commentator Eurosport and Warner Bros. Discovery, giving a helpful overview of what to expect…

JONAS VINGEGAARD ​​(26, Denmark, Jumbo-Visma)

The defending champion. Jonas has finished on the podium in every stage race he has raced this year, most recently winning the Criterium du Dauphine.

He is at his strongest in the high mountains, where he can upset everyone and be the last one standing.

Jonas also has the team around him to perform the surprise attacks for him. Jumbo-Visma are an incredible force as a team and so spectacular when they get it right. But when things go bad, they implode and chaos ensues. UAE Team Emirates needs to be ready to exploit that and break Jonas because right now he is the favourite.

Jonas Vingegaard is the defending champion and his team is an incredible force

TADEJ POGACAR (24, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates)

We don’t really know how Tadej is doing. He crashed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and broke his left wrist, so his build up for this race was not ideal.

He has not ridden a stage race since his crash and the Tour puts pressure on the body like no other sporting event. But he just won the Slovenian national road race and time trial. He also has a much stronger team around him this year than when he won the Tour in 2020 and 2021.

ADAM YATES (30, Great Britain, UAE Team Emirates)

Adam has had an incredible build up to this race. He won the Tour de Romandie and was second behind Jonas in the Dauphine. He also finished fourth in the Tour in 2016.

This is his first year with UAE and he is really getting used to his role. He’s been named as their co-leader alongside Tadej and is likely their Plan B.

As we get to the end of the three weeks and Jonas and Tadej are on the top two rungs, Adam is my sneaky bet for third.

Adam Yates has had a great build up and could be a sneaky bet to take third

MARK CAVENDISH (38, Great Britain, Astana Qazaqstan)

I was filming with Mark on the Isle of Man last week and I’ve never seen him so peaceful and relaxed.

This is his last Tour. He is tied with Eddy Merckx in terms of the number of stages won (34) and he is aiming for that outright record.

He knows he can win at least a stage. He now has a lead-out man in Cees Bol and he’s also brought in Mark Renshaw, his old lead-out man, as an analyst, who I think will be a huge support.

I definitely think he will win at least one stage and that will be historic and monumental.

TOM PIDCOCK (23, Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers)

Tom rides his second Tour. Last year he rode in support of Geraint Thomas. This year he has the opportunity to go for the general classification, but he has said for some time that he has no ambition to become a Tour winner yet.

I think he will try to track down podiums and that will be an absolute thrill to watch. He is so hungry and aggressive. It would be a shame to see him driving in a controlled manner to get a GC position. I much prefer to see him attack after attack.

Tom Pidcock is bracing for his second Tour and could be an absolute thrill to watch this month

FRED WRIGHT (24, Great Britain, Team Bahrain Victorious)

Fred has just won the British national road race title, his first professional victory, and will thus wear the British champion jersey on the roads of France.

He won the hearts of neutral fans last year with the way he raced and how much he cared to try and win every stage. So if he takes his first Tour stage win, it will be hugely popular.

There will also be a lot of emotion given that he recently lost his teammate Gino Mader, who was tragically killed in the Tour de Suisse.

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