A WALKING TARGET
Froome is favourite but party of four squabbling over yellow jersey
THE Tour de France has served up some mouth-watering rivalries over the years but the four-way battle between Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana is one that has cycling fans salivating as the 2015 edition gets under way in Utrecht today.
Froome (Team Sky), the winner in 2013, remains the bookmakers’ favourite after his victory last month in the Criterium du Dauphine, traditionally seen as the warm-up to the Tour and a predictor of form ahead of cycling’s blue riband event.
The only dampener on that impressive result – in which the Brit beat the defending Tour de France champion Nibali (Astana) – was the absence of two of Froome’s key rivals, with Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Quintana (Movistar) racing the Route de Sud instead.
Contador, who broke his leg in France last year, emerged as overall victor in that tussle and many are tipping the Spaniard to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour in the same year. This year’s route suits Contador’s style but after looking uncomfortable on the cobbles in 2014 the two-time Tour winner will be keen to avoid a repeat on the paved sections during stage four between Seraing and Cambrai.
Froome, who also abandoned the 2014 Tour after crashing twice on the cobbled stage five, will have the support of a Team Sky line-up that includes fellow Britons Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Peter Kennaugh and Luke Rowe.
It is often said that the Tour is won or lost in the mountains, but never is that more true than in a year that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey. There are no less than seven mountain stages and five summit finishes on the 3,360km (2,087-mile) route, which is undoubtedly music to the ears of climbing specialist Quintana. Runner-up to Froome in 2013, Quintana has designs on becoming the first Colombian to win the Tour and the small amount of timetrialling may play in his favour.
Nibali finds himself down the pecking order among the 2015 favourites with the early departures of Froome and Contador likely to have played a part in his victory. The Italian looked sublime on last year’s cobbled stage and his win at Italy’s national road race championships last weekend may indicate he is coming into form at the right time. Add in the strong team Astana have built around him and it would be foolish to rule out Nibali as a contender.
Outside the fab four, those looking to upset the apple cart include last year’s surprise runner-up Jean-Christophe Peraud of France (Ag2r-La Mondiale), winner of the Criterium International in March, and his younger team-mate Romain Bardet.
Their compatriot Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), third overall in the 2014 and renowned for his climbing prowess, could be another dark horse as France waits for its first winner for 30 years. Then there is Tejay van Garderen (BMC) who has twice finished fifth at the Tour and was runner-up to Froome at the Criterium du Dauphine last month, while Porte or Thomas could be pressed into action by Sky should some disaster befall Froome.
The other big showdown will come for the green jersey in the points classification. Fortunes have been markedly reversed from 12 months ago when Mark Cavendish (EtixxQuickStep) crashed out of the Tour on the opening stage in Yorkshire while Marcel Kittel roared to victory.
Cavendish – looking sharp and lean as he took silver at the British National Road Race Championships last weekend – has a full sprint train built around him while the German powerhouse Kittel, floored by a virus earlier in the year, wasn’t selected by his Giant-Alpecin team.
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) is favourite to retain the title but with team ambitions built around success for Contador in the general classification he is likely to be left largely to his own devices.
The Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has shown he can come up with the goods consistently, boasting 18 victories so far in 2015, while Germany’s Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and France’s Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) will also be in the chase.