Rigoberto Uran leads EF Education First - Drapac p/b Cannondale at the Tour de France

Uran finished in second place last year and is focused on winning, with an even stronger Pink Argyle squad

“The objective is quite simple,” Jonathan Vaughters, the team’s CEO, says. “We start the race trying to win the Tour de France. Is that optimistic and is that pushing the limits of our team? Absolutely. But we were second place last year. We have a little bit stronger team this year, and we have a parcours more suited to Rigo than last year. We have Rigo, who is stronger than he was last year. So we’re going in with the idea of trying to win the race.”

Second place, in the biggest race on the calendar, it was a result few outside the team could see coming, and certainly one of the team’s proudest moments.

Rigoberto Uran said “The importance of the Tour is easy to explain. Everything in July is top level – every rider, every stage, every second. It all matters. I need to focus for 21 days. It’s important to focus in the race, at the dinner table, for the sleep. From the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep, it’s like the World Championships every single day for three weeks.”

Uran is backed up by a strong team of experienced riders that includes the USA's Lawson Craddock “Racing the Tour in 2016 was a huge learning experience for me. There’s a ton of things that I was able to take away from the race that I can bring to this year’s Tour. My role will be to help out Rigo to put him on the top step of the final podium in Paris. He’s a great leader that instills confidence in the people around him. Being a part of a team that has a legitimate chance to win the Tour de France is not an opportunity that comes around very often.”

The USA's affable Taylor Phinney will also be a big team player “I think my role is chief vibration officer. I have to keep the vibes up, make sure the frequencies are calibrated. Mostly I’m there as team player, looking after Rigo and the rest of the guys on the flat stages. If there’s some sort of a window where I can go for something myself, I’ll take that opportunity but that’s not what I’m going to the Tour to do – but you never know what can happen over three weeks.”

In the squad is Sep Vanmarcke whose classic's experience will come in very handy looking after Uran on the cobbles of the Roubaix stage 9.

Aussie Simon Clarke, Kiwi Tom Scully, Frenchman Pierre Rolland and Colombian Dani Martinez make up the rest of team who'll look after Uran, with Rolland a great workhorse in the mountains and Simon Clarke taking the leadership role out on the road.

The Tour’s 21 stages provide ample opportunity to dream. For stage hunters, for sprinters, for climbers, for yellow-jersey contenders. Everything is possible, and it’s on the sport’s biggest stage.