The Favorites for the 2017 Tour de France
104th edition starts in Düsseldorf on Saturday July 1st
The Tour or "Le Grand Boucle" as it is affectionately known is the biggest bike race in the world. It starts on July 1st and runs until July 23rd after 21 stages with a couple of rest days thrown in for good measure.
Winning a stage of the Tour or stepping onto its prestigious podium is a career defining moment for any professional bike rider, the team and sponsors. The Tour is probably one of the toughest sporting events in the world too.
Traditionally the winner of the Dauphine usually goes on to win the Tour. This year’s Dauphine was riveting to watch, unpredictable down to the final climb.
It did give us a good indication of the GC favorites form. Jacob Fulsang was in good form and stands a good chance to shine again.
What was more interesting was the form of the favorites; Richie Porte, Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Dan Martin, Fabio Aru, Alejandro Valverde and Romain Bardet.
Chris Froome (Team Sky)
Bookies odds on favorite to win.
Froome hasn’t really achieved any real wins so far this season. He dramatically lost over 15 minutes after Team Sky missed the split on Stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya.
He did show flashes of brilliance at the Dauphine attacking on the climbs and showing some great racing techniques, especially on the descents.
He was lucky to be unhurt having been run off the road car driver and having his Pinarello crushed in the following pursuit, near his home in Monaco.
Team Sky and Froome havve won the Tour de France three times and this year’s team looks very strong with Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Michal Kwiatkowski, Mikel Landa, Mikel Nieve, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas.
Richie Porte (BMC Racing)
Second odds on favorite to win.
Porte opened up his season by winning the Santos Tour Down Under, attacking on the Willunga Hill and extended his lead in the overall classification. Afterwards Porte stated he could beat Froom at the Tour.
Porte didn’t fare so easily in Paris Nice after getting caught out in the freezing wet conditions on the opening stages. However as the weather warmed Port fought back winning the Queen stage.
Porte went on to battle with some of his rivals at the Tour of Romandie. He dropped Froome and Simon Yates on Stage 4 and overhauled Simon Yates on the final time trial to win the 2017 Tour of Romandie.
He then went on to win the Dauphine Time Trial and took the leaders jersey only to lose it on the final stage to Jacob Fulsang. But Porte was also attacked all his rivals on the final stage Aru, Valverde, Froome, Contador, Bardet and Martin. He managed to catch up and pass Froome and Valverde but Martin, Aru and Bardet finished ahead of him on the final stage.
At times, Porte was also isolated with no team mates to help him, if Porte is isolated, his rivals will start attacking him all over race radio.
Porte is backed up by Damiano Caruso, Alessandro De Marchi, Stefan Küng, Maël Moinard, Nicolas Roche, Michael Schär and Greg Van Avermaet.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
Quintana has GC wins at Tirreno-Adriatico and Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana this season and his stage win at Blockhaus in the Giro was very impressive. He rode everyone off his wheel and his longer range attacks on mountain stages is one of his pure strengths.
Losing the Giro d’Italia to Dumoulin was down to his time trialling, however this year’s tour has less time trial kilometres which could bode well for the Colombian.
Movistar will of course field an extremely strong team to support Quintana, especially in the mountains including Alejandro Valverde and are odds on favorites to win the Team Classification.
Quintana is backup by Andrey Amador, Daniele Bennati, Carlos Betancur, Jonathan Castroviejo, Imanol Erviti, Jesus Herrada), Jasha Sutterlin and Alejandro Valverde.
Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo)
Contador showed some real racing form early on in the season at the Ruta Del Sol.
He struggled like Porte in the opening, freezing wet stages in Paris Nice, but then put in an amazing time trial on Mount Brouilly and attacked race leader Sergio Henao the next day.
Contador has animated lots of races this year and finished second, several times.
Trek-Segafredo and Contador changed tack and he took time out to train in Tenerife in preparation for the Tour. Trek-Segafredo and Contador also decided not to go full gas at the Dauphine and this strategy could pay off by bringing him into the best form at the right time.
Contador has probably the strongest team around him this year at Trek-Segafredo with the likes of Mollema amd Pantano to help in the mountains and Degenkolb, de Kort and Felline to protect him on the flatter stages.
Contador always seems to get better over the weeks of a Grand Tour and he has a real chance of winning this year.
Contador is backed up by André Cardoso, John Degenkolb, Koen de Kort, Fabio Felline, Michal Gogl, Markel Irizar, Bauke Mollema and Jarlinson Pantano.
Fabio Aru (Team Astana)
Astana has unveiled its squad for the upcoming Tour de France. The team's main objective will be the General Classification for Fabio Aru.
The new Italian champion will once again take the leading role in the Kazakh formation and will be closely supported by a very strong Jakob Fuglsang, who comes from taking the overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine and is starting in the French Grand Tour for the seventh time.
They will be joined by Dario Cataldo, Alexey Lutsenko, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Michael Valgren, Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev, Adriy Grivko and Andrey Zeits.
Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)
Outside favorite.
The saviour of French cycling finished 2nd at last year’s Tour de France.
He won stage 19 of last year's Tour de France, escaping the yellow jersey group on the lower slopes of Mont Blanc moving himself up to second overall after a bold attack.
He’s comfortable riding stage races and one day classics. His time trialling ability isn’t his best strength, but his ability in the mountains combined with his ability to read the race and attack make him a worthy opponent for the overall title.
With the support of his AG2R La Mondiale team mates, Bardet is a force to be reckoned with.
Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors)
Outside favorite.
Last year’s tour was a defining one for Martin who finished 9th overall.
His season so far has seen podium step places in classics at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne and also in the stage races at Paris–Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Martin has a strong team around at Quick-Step Floors which he can count on and isn't afraid to attack his rivals when the opportunity arises.
Jakob Fuglsang (Team Astana)
Outside favorite.
Fuglsang leapt up the bookies odds after his impressive win at the Dauphine, winning the last stage and beating Porte by a handful of seconds.
His climbing ability was on point and his ability to attack without hestitating was inspiring.
But what else do we know about Fuglsang?
He finished 6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier this year, rode the Tour de France six times previously with his highest polacing 7th overall in 2013.
It's a long shot on paper based on his palmares to date but he's was definately on form in the Dauphine so is a force to be reckoned with.