AG2R LA MONDIALE

In 2012, Ag2r were the least successful team in cycling’s top tier. They won four races all year, in minor events. But five years is a long time in cycling, and it’s possible that they could provide the winner of the Tour in 2017. Romain Bardet, an improvisatory climber with an attacking streak, was last year’s runner-up and has two more top 10s. He’s impervious to pressure, of which there will be a huge amount if France is to break the 31-year yellow jersey duck. The team will be built around helping him do that. Pierre Latour and Alexandre Geniez will provide back-up in the mountains; Oliver Naesen and Jan Bakelandts are possible and effective helpers on the flat stages; Samuel Dumoulin is the road captain. It’s all for Bardet this year.

TOUR PALMARÈS

They’ve been a ixture at the Tour since 1997. They spent several years as stage hunters, with Jaan Kirsipuu taking a handful of sprint wins in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’ve been second at the Tour twice in three years – Peraud in 2014 and Bardet last year.