Tour de France 2018 preview: Favorites, predictions and picks
By Zach Bigalke
Who is the favorite for the polka dot jersey of the king of the mountains?
As a 24-year-old racing in his first career Tour de France, Rafal Majka claimed the title of king of the mountains at the 2014 Tour de France. He wasn’t a complete surprise, as Majka had finished in sixth at the Giro d’Italia two months earlier. Still, the newcomer claimed two stages in the mountains and eclipsed Vincenzo Nibali by just 13 summit points.
A year later, Majka was unable to mount a serious challenge for the title. In the 2015 Tour, Majka devoted his efforts to assisting Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger. Majka won his second polka dot jersey with Tinkoff in 2016, his last year with the team, as he outclassed Thomas de Gendt with a sterling performance.
Last year, Majka shifted to Bora-Hansgrohe and entered the Tour on good form. But a crash descending the Col de la Biche forced Majka to abandon the race before the midway point, before he could earn a single mountain point. He will be back this year looking to keep up his streak of winning in even-numbered years.
Which other riders might snatch the polka dot jersey?
Warren Barguil: The defending king of the mountains has already said that he is gunning for the polka dots this year. Barguil does not have nearly the same level of team support as other riders in the hunt for the polka dots. Barguil’s form is largely unknown, as his new Fortuneo-Samsic team is a second-tier squad on the UCI Pro Continental circuit rather than the World Tour.
Thomas De Gendt: The past two years at the Tour de France, Thomas De Gendt has finished in the top three of the polka dot jersey hunt. De Gendt won the mountains classification at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie earlier this year. On good form entering this year’s Tour, De Gendt could be hamstrung by his team’s focus on André Greipel in the sprints.
Nairo Quintana/Chris Froome/Romain Bardet: Because this year’s Tour de France is so heavy on mountain stages, it could result in the yellow jersey winning the king of the mountains as well. Chris Froome last pulled off the feat in 2015 when he won the second of his four yellow jerseys. The mountains/GC double has been pulled off 10 times in Tour history, but only twice since the polka dot jersey was introduced.
Quintana, Froome, and Bardet are the general classification contenders with the best climbing pedigrees. If Froome pulled it off, he would join Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx on the short list of riders to pull off the mountains/GC double twice at the Tour de France.