Form ranking: Tour de France 2021 contenders, part 2

Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar and David Gaudu lead the Tour de France form ranking after the Itzulia Basque Country

Primož Roglič, Tadej Pogačar and David Gaudu lead the Tour de France form ranking after the Itzulia Basque Country (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

It's been a month since we published our initial form ranking of contenders for the Tour de France, and plenty has happened in that time.

Some riders have made their first outings of the season, while others have moved through the gears, and a certain few have suffered setbacks.

In terms of his status ahead of the Tour de France, Roglič's week in the Basque Country was significant for a number of reasons, first and foremost being the psychological points scored in his rivalry with compatriot Tadej Pogačar. This was the pair's first stage race meeting since that infamous Tour finale in September and Roglič came out on top against the rider who not only stripped him of yellow but started this season with imperious wins at UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico.

After stamping his authority in the opening time trial, Roglič arguably went on to win the race with his head as much as his legs and that, too, will give confidence to a rider associated with control and dominance but perhaps also vulnerable to chaos. He embraced that chaos in letting Pogačar's teammate Brandon McNulty get away and into the lead on stage 4, which was a risky manoeuvre but ultimately one that worked out.

The Spaniard continued his consistent start to the season with another top 10 at WorldTour level. He produced one of his better time trials on the opening day of the Itzulia before finishing with the favourites on stage 2 and placing fifth at Laudio on stage 3. A long-range attack on stage 4 failed to pay off, and his teammate Pello Bilbao went up the road, but he rallied on the final day to secure his top 10.

Tenth in the early time trial was a good showing but the real breakthrough came the next day when he placed fourth at Vallter 2000, the marquee summit finish of the race. His teammate Adam Yates won that one and Thomas spent the rest of the week as part of a powerful Ineos Grenadiers train that rolled into Barcelona with a sweep of the podium. He wasn't really called into action, given his role was to stay near Yates and given Ineos had so many other quality riders to keep things under control.

Carapaz made his debut at the Volta a Catalunya, where he was a key part of the old Ineos Grenadiers mountain train that delivered the team to all three spots on the final podium. Some way off his teammates from the early time trial he was never going to be one of those riders in contention and was happy to work in service of his teammates. His pull on the road up to Port Ainé stood out in particular.

He went in without the same domestique duties and although his fifth place in the stage 2 time trial appeared to place him in the thick of the action he soon ended up well out of contention. He was 24th at Vallter 2000, as Sepp Kuss took up the reins for Jumbo-Visma. Things worsened at Port Ainé the following day, when he tried to attack the Ineos Grenadiers train and ended up losing nearly six minutes.

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.