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This Saturday, the 102nd Tour De France will be underway – 22 days of racing over 3,000 kilometres, and we look at some stats of the riders to watch, and also The Sports Lowdown’s writer, Craig Muncey’s, predicted top 10 when the race ends on the Champs De Élysées in Paris.
The 2015 event starts with a time trial in Utrecht in the Netherlands. However, the complete opposite to the Netherlands is that the race this year suits mountain climbers a lot more than previous years. This years events includes seven mountain stages with five summit finishes, and less emphasis on time trials.
Defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali from Italy will be looking to keep hold of the yellow jersey, however this year, unlike last year, two real threats are fit, Chris Froome of Great Britain and Alberto Contador of Spain, both previous winners of the tour. Also, Contador has just won the Giro d’Italia, so will be looking to win the two tours in the same season, becoming the first man since 1998 to do so.
Nibali is a good climber and time trialist but arguably not as good as Contador in the mountains, whilst Froome is a decent climber and an excellent time trialist. It may come down to strength of their support acts within their respective teams, as Nibali and Froome have excellent support, however a few times in the Giro d’Italia, Contador was left isolated, so could pose an issue for him if this happens in this tour.
It promises to be a fascinating battle of skill, tactics and just sheer endurance and will to win, I cannot wait.
My Top 10.
1. Chris Froome
2. Alberto Contador
3. Nairo Quintana
4. Vincenzo Nibali
5. Richie Porte
6. Thibaut Pinot
7. Andrew Talansky
8. Tejay van Garderen
9. Romain Bardet
10. Rafal Majka
Let’s see how I do!
