Four-time Tour de France (open in new tab) champion Chris Froome (open in new tab) (Ineos Grenadiers) believes the 2020 race belongs to Primos Roglic. Jumbo Visma took the yellow jersey on stage 9 and is 44 seconds ahead of compatriot Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) with a week to go.

"It's definitely Roglic's Tour. 'I'd love to see Egan [Bernal] win, but at the same time I think Pogachar isn't too far behind. He's fresher than any of them. He always seems so relaxed. It's great to watch him race."

There are still four uphill finishes, a mountain time trial, and some tough mountain tests left. Froome believes that Roglic's biggest hurdle will be to maintain his performance in the final week.

"Whether I can keep that up for three weeks, that's the challenge for Roglic," Froome said. 'It's brutal at the tail end of the Tour de France.'

"There's the Grand Colombier stage, and after a rest day there's a stage called the Queen Stage, which is stage 17 (a summit finish to the Col de la Rose). Of course, there is also a time trial on stage 20, Planche des Belles Filles. It will be interesting to see if Roglic can hold on to this stage as the GC will be very GC-heavy in the final stages of the race.

The Tour de France will take place much earlier than usual, as the race calendar has been drastically changed due to the global interruption of the sport in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most riders will only be able to race for a few days, and Froome believes that the variation in closure regulations around the world has affected his form.

"I didn't get to race that many races in the Tour. Many of the peloton were locked down on turbo trainers months before the Tour, and some were training on the road," explained Froome. 'It would be interesting to see from the group of GC riders who were actually allowed to go out to train and who were locked indoors.' Clearly, the Slovenian riders were allowed to go out and fly. Roglic and Pogachar seem to be dominating the race so far."

Froome will miss this year's Tour de France and is currently competing in the Tirreno-Adriatico with teammate and 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, looking for his second overall win at the Vuelta a España in October. Meanwhile, 2019 champion Egan Bernal is Ineos Grenadier's only overall leader in the French race. The Colombian is in third place overall, 59 seconds behind Roglic.

"Egan seems to have a lot of ups and downs, so it's hard to tell exactly how he feels right now," said Bernal. He said, "I'd like to think he can make a difference in the last week, like he did last year, especially when it gets harder, and it's going to be hard for him to go from a minute behind to a minute ahead of Roglic."