We’ve already looked at the Irish riders for this year’s Tour de France, but what about the rest?
Who will be the main contenders, the potential surprises and the kings of the sprints?
The fantastic four:
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
The defending champion, Nibali seized the yellow jersey after outfoxing his rivals on the cobbles in the first week and watched as they either crashed out of the race or fell away in the mountains. His team, Astana, remain under a doping cloud after a series of positive tests last season put their World Tour licence in jeopardy, but the UCI allowed them to continue on probation, while their remarkably strong performance at last month’s Giro d’Italia (six riders in the top 25) raised some eyebrows. Nonetheless, Nibali will have a strong unit behind him and the Italian, for his part, has been gearing his entire season towards the Tour and used June’s week-long Dauphiné to ride himself into race shape.
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
The Spaniard fended off the Astana phalanx in some style at the Giro and is seeking to become the first rider since 1997 to win in Italy and France. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider crashed out of last year’s race with a broken leg when he looked set to a lengthy mountain duel with Nibali, but returns this year determined to win his third yellow jersey (or fourth, if you count the 2010 victory he was subsequently stripped of). Is clearly in fine form, but there’s good reason why there hasn’t been a Giro-Tour double this century and his rivals will be sure to test out Contador’s legs as soon as the race hits the mountains.
Chris Froome (Team Sky)
The Briton easily won the race two years ago and was probably the strongest rider the year before as he helped Bradley Wiggins to the top step of the podium. Showed he was back to top form with a pair of stage wins and overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphiné last month. The lack of time trials will hurt Froome’s cause (only Saturday’s 13.8km prologue and the Stage 9 team time trial), but he retains the ability to put in blistering accelerations on the steepest slopes and has a very strong Sky team around him that should be able to put his rivals to the pins of their collars on the mountain stages.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
The Colombian, at 25 by far the youngest of the big four, is a popular choice for many due to his impressive climbing display when finishing second to Froome in 2013. Quintana skipped last year’s Tour to concentrate on the Giro d’Italia and duly won that race. Won the Tirreno-Adriatico to start the season but has been lightly raced since then, finishing second behind Contador at last week’s Route du Sud. Is sure to relish the tough Alpine stages in the final particularly, and eith plenty of experience surrounding him in Movistar, Quintana will remain a threat as long as he is in striking distance.
The young guns
Tejay van Garderen
The undisputed leader of BMC since the retirement of Cadel Evans, Van Garderen, at 26, is the oldest in this section. The American showed some of the best form of his career when battling Froome at the Dauphine. He has never managed to put together a full three weeks at the Tour, however, with a bad day or two proving costly. Finished fifth last year in an admittedly weaker field but if he can avoid any blow-ups this year he could be the man to take advantage of any slip-ups by the main quartet to seize a place on a podium.
Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil (FDJ/AG2R/Giant-Alpecin)
The host nation’s big hopes, here are a trio of young, feisty climbers that many believe could one day end what is now a 30-year wait for a French winner. Pinot finished third last year but a repeat is unlikely given the strength of the field, but both he and Bardet will be aggressive in the hunt for stage wins in the mountains and could be the ones the spark the action amongst the leading contenders, while Barguil, the youngest of the three at 23, is looking to make a splash in his debut Tour. Look out especially for big efforts on Stage 10, the first summit finish on the Col du Soudet on Bastille Day.
Simon Yates (Orica GreenEdge)
The Yates twins, Simon and Adam, take part in their first Tour together and British cycling fans have been getting awfully excited about the pair. At 22, they will among the youngest riders in the race and both have shown good form this year, particularly Simon, who was duking it out with the big guns en route to a fifth-placed finish and the young rider jersey at the Dauphine. If he gets into a battle with last year’s winner Bardet for the white jersey it could be as keenly fought as the fight for overall honours.
The wild card
Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)
A cult hero to cycling fans, especially in France, if the diminutive Voeckler is in any sort of form (and probably even if he isn’t) he will be sure to take his chances in at least one long breakaway. France remembers his epic 11-day hold on the yellow jersey back in 2004 fondly as he fended off the Lance Armstrong machine and even though he is now 36 and playing second fiddle to team leader Pierre Rolland, Voeckler has free reign to light the touch paper whenever he sees fit.
Other men sure to be seen in breakaways are Tony Gallopin (Cofidis), who won a stage last year and briefly held the yellow jersey and former world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), while current rainbow jersey wearer Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step) is a strong all-round rider who can stay with a break in the mountains and sprint away at the finish.
The sprinters
Ireland’s Sam Bennett will be looking to get amongst it in the sprint finishes but there’s a crowded field of more experienced operators all vying for a limited number of stage wins.
With Marcel Kittel not selected by Giant-Alpecin, Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step), looking to make up for the first-stage crash that ended his race last year, will be favourite to add to his Tour haul of 25 stage wins after showing good form so far this year. Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) might be the most powerful sprinter in the field but after a superb spring he hasn’t been quite as sharp of late, while German stalwart Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) might be as quick as he used to be.
Beyond that trio comes a horde of younger sprinters that includes charismatic three-times green jersey winner Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), French flyer Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Aussie speedster Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Kittel’s team-mate John Degenkolb.
