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Every fourth year the Tour de France has an additional twist with the vast majority of the riders also due to contest the Olympics. Most will again be competing on the road although some, like Mark Cavendish, will be transferring their skills to the track in pursuit of gold rather than a yellow jersey.
Ironically, they were two missing from the Manx Missile’s career list of accomplishments, although, having won the first stage, he is now just one step away from completing everything he wanted to.
The 103rd edition of this iconic race started in France for the first time in six years, launching from the shadows of Mont Saint Michel and culminating with a long straight sprint down Utah Beach, selected to commemorate the Normandy D-Day landings.
In claiming the stage win for the 27th time in his career, the Isle of Man native made it a DD-Day celebration for his Dimension Data team, a unit born from the Qhubeka charity that provides bikes to impoverished areas of Africa.
There had been much debate as to the impact that splitting his training between the road and the track would have and yet Cavendish answered his doubters in style, clearly benefitting from the enhanced finishing power required on the boards, typically masterminding his way through the work done by other teams in the peleton to launch from the slipstream of Peter Sagan to take the line.
The Slovakian world champion made amends the following day using an almost identical strategy to claim the stage and the maillot jaune on the second stage.
First held in 1903, the same year that the Wright brothers made their first airplane flight, the Tour de France will take 198 riders from 22 teams over 2,186 miles (3,519km) that will also visit Spain, Andorra and Switzerland.
This will encompass 21 stages that are made up by nine flat, nine mountain and one hilly stage in addition to two individual time trials. Over three tortuous weeks the riders are permitted only two rest days!
The race is stacked this year with climbs. The 19th stage will see the riders climb over 4,000m in a single day, including a 10km ascent to the finish.
The General Classification contenders will eye each of the four summit finishes as opportunities to gain time on their rivals although it will be stages 8,9 and 10 that will give the first real indicator of form. Stage 12 pays tribute to the history of the race with a finish on the summit of Mont Ventoux.
Even the individual time trials are uphill this year! Stage 13 covers 37.5km of which approx. 7km is uphill while stage 18 is almost exclusively uphill until a final drop to stop the clock in Megeve.
Chris Froome is the defending champion and would become the first rider since Lance Armstrong in 2004 to achieve the feat (Miguel Indurain in 1995 before that). Last year, his second victory, he seized control on the seventh stage and never relinquished it, cruising home by 72 seconds.
Team Sky will be without his trusted lieutenant, Richie Porte, although Geraint Thomas will marshall a strong line-up of climbers in support.
Froome, the Kenyan-born Brit, is in fine form having recently won the Criterium Dauphine, generally considered to be the best indicated ahead of Le Tour. He has now won the Dauphine three times, the two previous occasions coinciding with his Tour victories.
A third win would elevate Froome to joint fifth on the all-time list of winners alongside Thys, Bobet and Greg LeMond. Another rider capable of surpassing Froome is Alberto Contador, although two falls in the first stages of the race appear to have hampered his efforts.
The most likely challenge will come from the diminutive Columbian, Nairo Quintana, who has twice finished as ‘bridesmaid’ to Froome. However, this year he also appears to have found form at the right time having collected the Volta a Catalunya, Tour de Romandie and Route de Sud.
Most importantly he will be supported by the man who finished one rung lower on last year’s podium, Alejandro Valverde.
The home-grown challenge comes from Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot who have both made strides this season. The outsider most likely to challenge is Fabio Aru. Despite thie being his first Tour de France he won the Vuelta a Espana last year and will be supported by Vincenzo Nibali.
Whoever crosses the line in yellow on the Champs Elysees on July 24, I expect there to be fewer riders present to honour them – with the Olympic teams heading to Rio only a few days after the victory parade I suspect there will be several who drop out early, despite their protestations to the contrary.
Abu’s prediction: Quintana to win
