Tour de France: The major contenders

Chris Froome is the favourite to win the 100th Tour de France

With the 100^th edition of the Tour de France now underway, here’s a look at some top names to watch out for for the yellow, white and green jerseys. As for the polka dot jersey (for the mountain classification), it is difficult to say which all riders would go for it considering that the best climbers, often among the leading contenders, rarely go for this title.

Without a Richard Virenque or Christophe Moreau in the peloton, the polka dot could be anyone’s game with my money on a battle between a Frenchman and a Spaniard.

The battle for Maillot Jaune

It is difficult to see anyone other than Chris Froome and Alberto Contador seriously contesting for the Maillot Jaune over the mountains. With a multitude of extremely hilly stages, more like a Giro d’Italia course than a Le Tour one, Sky’s Froome is the undoubted favourite, on the back of commanding wins at the Tour of Oman, the Criterium International, the Tour of Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphine already this year.

The 28-year-old, born in Nairobi, before making the switch to Great Britain, has already finished second in the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour, both times while riding as a domestique to Sir Bradley Wiggins. There’s no Wiggins this time and the fabulous Team Sky lineup, boasting of names such as Richie Porte (look for the Tasmanian to finish high up in the General Classification as well), Welshman Geraint Thomas, British debut duo Peter Kennaugh and Ian Stannard (whose road pursuit backgrounds will be a big help in the absence of Wiggins in the team time trial) as well as Norwegian Edvald Bossen-Hagen, a two-stage winner in 2011.

Meanwhile, much maligned former champion Contador, who has all three Grand Tours in his collection and the fifth man in hisory to win the three Grand tours, will be the biggest threat to the British train. Backed up by a solid team at Saxo-Tinkoff, Contador will be out to prove a point after his 2010 Le Tour and 2011 Giro titles were taken away after being found guilty of a doping offence. Contador counts Czech super-domestique Roman Kreuziger, Irish climber Nicolas Roche and former Sky rider Michael Rogers as part of his support group, with successful former rider and manager Bjarne Riis also joining from Sky this year.

It is not just climbing skills which are likely to be crucial in this year’s Tour, given the presence of two fairly hilly individual time trials and a team time trial. Garmin-Sharp, with a three-prong attack led by 2012 Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal, supreme climber Dan Martin and young American hope Andrew Talansky could throw a spanner in the midst.

Astana also have a strong team led by Janez Brajkovic and Jakob Fuglsang, two supremely talented and fast climbers with good time trial ability. Katusha were also surprisingly quick in the Giro team time trial and would look to recapture that performance in stage four and set up their team leader Joaquim Rodriguez. The diminutive 34-year-old from Barcelona is only making his second Tour appearance and the first real time in earnest, and he could be an outside bet for the top spot on the podium come the end at the Champs-Elysses.

Another duo who could really spring a one-two come the mountains is Team BMC’s Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen. The 24-year-old American won the best young riders white jersey in 2012, despite losing out on valuable time dragging along the then 35-year-old Evans over the steep mountains. The Aussie 2011 winner would of course become the oldest man post-war to win the Tour if he repeats his success and believes he is well prepared for a crack. Despite stating that they would all be riding for Evans, BMC would do well to give van Garderen more of a free lease if Evans’ old failings start to reappear early in the mountains.

As for old favourites such as Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde or Radioshack-Nissan-Trek’s former Tour winner Andy Shleck, a stage win or two might be the most that could be expected. Movistar have a strong overall team however with young Colombian Nairo Quintana one who could figure prominently in the high passes. They also have experienced hands in Rui Costa and Jose Ivan Gutierrez and could potentially make a claim for yellow at least for a few days.

Peter Sagan (in picture) will be hoping to defend his green jersey, while Mark Cavendish will be in close pursuit as well

Van Garderen and Quintana are certainly two of the hot picks for the white jersey for the best young rider. FDJ’s Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who at 22 was the youngest rider at last year’s Tour, went on to win a mountain stage will be another top challenger. Talansky is another one to watch out for.

Who’s the fastest man on two (motor-less) wheels?

If it were only about pace, the race has to be between Manxman Mark Cavendish and German Andre Greipel. The former teammates come to the Tour with two strong sprint trains although Cavendish’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step might shade it a touch. Former German and world time trial champion Tony Martin has an amazing engine that would be put into good use with Peter Velits, Niki Terpstra and Gert Steegmans all heavily involved in launching Cavendish towards the end of the flat stages. Griepel’s Lotto-Belisol team also has the GC in mind for Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck. But with a lead out train consisting Lars Bak, Jurgen Roelandts, Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson, seem to have all bases covered to add to the three stage wins the current German champion registered last year.

Defending points classification champion Peter Sagan looks as strong as ever. The first rider born in the 1990’s to win a stage on Tour, the Slovakian has a smart team around him at Cannondale. His ability to climb better than the other sprinters should ensure he picks up a lot of points when his competitors are struggling at the back in the hilly stages. Orica Greenedge is another strong sprinting side with Australian Matt Goss the man they will be working for. Another young German Marcel Kittel of Team Argos-Shimano could also come up with a few stage wins.

Picks:

Podium – Froome, Van Garderen, Contador

White – Van Garderen

Green -Sagan