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UAE Team Emirates made two changes to the line-up that supported the Slovenian last season, with Adam Yates and Felix Großschartner in for Brandon McNulty and George Bennett.
Rafal Majka is also in the mix, as are Mikkel Bjerg, Matteo Trentin, Vegard Stake Laengen and Marc Soler.
Pogacar was pleased with the eight-rider group and the strength it possesses, but assured his recent wrist injury – sustained in a crash at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April – still makes Vingegaard the man to beat.
“Jonas should be the first favourite because he was so dominant in the Dauphine, and I’m coming off an injury,” Pogacar told RTV Slovenija at the Slovenian Championships.
“I’m going into the Tour de France motivated, confident and convinced of the strength of the team. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m aiming for victory.
“I have a last pre-Tour check-up and scan on Monday. I hope it’s healed well, otherwise it’s going to be a very difficult July.
“My wrist is not fully mobile, so it still hurts a little when I hit bumps in the road. It’s not 100 per cent, but I have to say that the form is solid regardless.”
Victories in both the national time trial and road race have continued the 24-year-old’s impressive start to the 2023 season, one that includes wins at the Tour of Flanders, Fleche Wallonne, Paris-Nice and Amstel Gold Race.
Vingegaard, meanwhile, dominated the Criterium du Dauphine – the Jumbo-Visma star finishing 2’23” ahead of Yates in the former’s final outing before making his way to Bilbao for the Grand Depart on July 1.
Yates is a new addition to UAE Team Emirates after spending two years with Ineos Grenadiers, and the Briton will aim to assist Pogacar particularly when the race enters the mountains.
Having won the general classification in 2020 and 2021, Pogacar is no stranger to success at the French Grand Tour, but he will need maximum effort from his team if they are to wrest control back from the incredibly talented Jumbo-Visma.
