The final dash, the final chance of glory. 160 riders will make it to the start line in Sèvres, from the 198 that started. It's been a brutal Tour, it's been a good Tour, but not a great Tour, it was exciting right up to the penultimate stage when Nairo threw it down to Froome repeatedly until he finally cracked him. But congratulations where they are due, Froome got the job done.
As Michael Jackson once said, "This is it"... The big finale, the Alpe d'Huez, the decider? Micky J was a big fan of cycling of course, 'Just beat it' was his motivational song about taking someone's Strava KOM and 'Farewell my summer love' was his lament to the end of the Tour de France every year. Anyway, I digress. It's Alpe d'Huez day!
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles
Friday 24th July, 138kms
A short stage today, at only 138kms, short maybe, but definitely not easy. The race is really cranking up now with some seriously hard climbing today - a Cat 2, two Cat 1s and a HC thrown in for good measure. The Autobus are going to have a long day in the saddle today as they immediately face a Cat 1 climb of 15kms, right from the start.
The first day in the Alps didn't disappoint.. We expected drama, but didn’t expect a day like that! The writing was on the wall with regards Van Garderen’s chances of finishing the stage, let alone hanging in there on the GC battle, as early as the 5th kilometre when reports started filtering through that he was already some 2 minutes behind the peloton. and had been to the medical car.
Back we go to the scene of the superb victory of Romain Bardet in the Critérium de Dauphiné back in June. This is an exact replica of the stage 5 of the Dauphiné, when Bardet attacked a few hundred meters from the top of the Col d'Allos and descended like a madman to put over a minute between him and the chasing pack.
The Alps approach, you can almost see Alpe d'Huez from Gap.. almost but it's still a long way until they get there next Sunday. This is a crazily open stage, a stage that really could be won by so many different riders, and this is reflected by the fact that the favourite, Alejandro Valverde, is as big as 16/1!
The last chance for the sprinters before Paris? Or will they even make it to the finish? It could be a day for the break too, so literally anything could happen on this stage - it could be all over for the sprinters inside the first 10kms as they start climbing straight from the off. It could be a frantic start and a crazy stage.
Will the climbing ever end?! This is supposed to be another 'transition' stage, but yet again they face a lumpy stage that ends with another 'Mur' at the finish, this time up the tough Col de la Croix Neuve, which averages 10.1% for 2kms! Despite the tired legs in the bunch there are sure to be some who have pencilled this stage in to their roadbooks as one to target.
Muret to Rodez
Friday 17th July, 198.5kms
So we leave the Pyrenées behind and head towards the Massif Central with a lumpy stage that will still test the riders climbing legs. This stage has the air of a Classics race about it again, with a relatively calm opening that bulids up to a more challenging second half and an uphill, tough finish to the stage.
Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille
Thursday 16th July, 195kms
Plateau de Beille - another legendary climb in the Tour's history. It has been used as a stage finish five times in the past, and on the first four occassions, the winner of the stage has gone on to win the race in Paris. Pantani in '98, Armstrong in '02 and '04, Contador in '07, with Jelle Vanendert breaking the run in 2011.
Pau to Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin
Wednesday 15th July, 188kms
The second day of the Pyrenéean trilogy sees things taken up a notch in the climbing stakes. Tuesday's stage to La Pierre St Martin was just an appetiser in terms of metres climbed, with just the one hard climb. This stage has six climbs including the Haute Category Col du Tourmalet - the Souvenir Jacques Goddet for the highest point in the Tour at 2,115 metres.
Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin
Tuesday 14th July, 167kms
So the rest day is over, the Team Time Trial is done, now it's time for the mountains! It's been a fascinating first week with so much happening on a daily basis. There have been so many incidents and talking points and the race is teed up nicely going in to the second week. Chris Froome has held on to his leaders jersey, inherited from Tony Martin and goes in to the mountains with a healthy lead over his key rivals.
A pivotal day potentially - the longest time trial and the last time trial of the race, could we see Tejay Van Garderen take over the yellow jersey thanks to his world champions team-mates? A stage similar to the TTT in the Critérium du Dauphiné which saw BMC lay down a marker ahead of the Tour.
The first real battle among the GC candidates, or will they be keeping their powder dry ahead of the Team Time Trial on Sunday? This is the second Mûr that the riders will have faced this week, but this is a far different beast to the Mûr de Huy. It was last used in the Tour in 2011 when Cadel Evans led home a bunch of GC candidates and strong puncheurs like Gilbert.
Fougères was the finish city for a Team Time Trial of a ridiculously long 73kms in 1985, when the La Vie Claire team with Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault destroyed the opposition and put 8 of their men in the top 10 of the GC. We're not far off the TTT on stage 9 here which could see another shake-up in the GC.
Despite what it looks like on paper, this could be an interesting stage for sure. It looks like a nice jaunt for 120kms along the coastline of the Seine-Maritime on the cliffs overlooking 'Le Manche', but if the wind blows in from the sea, they could be a chaotic and wild last 120kms. Luckily the conditions look like being kind to them.
The first stage proper in France see them head south-west from Arras through the Pas de Calais region and on through the battlefields of the Somme on a day that we should see a battle among the sprinters. The area has lots of wide open fields though and with multiple changes of direction in the last 100kms, we could see echelons and splits again.
A return to the cobbles after the drama of last year will spark divided opinion among fans and riders alike. Many riders were very much against the cobbles last year, Chris Froome even threatened not to ride the Tour because of them. After some riders complained as to how hard a stage was, but some riders, and most fans declared the stage a classic.
We're only three stages in, but this could be a pivotal stage for the GC for two reasons. Firstly, because the narrow roads and street furniture on the roads of Belgium are going to be dangerous, just ask Dan Martin or Philippe Gilbert who both crashed out of the Fleche-Wallone this year.
Utrecht to Zélande, 166kms
Sunday July 5th
Stage 2 takes them from Utrecht to Zélande along the coast in a stage that stays entirely in the Netherlands. They pass along some of the roads used for the World Ports Classic, a race notorious for the strong cross winds as they ride along wide, exposed roads and bridges. It looks like a day for the sprinters but it's not guaranteed all sprinters will be involved given the likelihood of crosswinds and splits.
Utrecht to Utrecht, 13.8km Time Trial
Saturday July 4th
Here we go then, the Grand Depart, Utrecht style. A 13.8km Time Trial around the city of Utrecht to kick things off, a return to an opening Time Trial after a two-year absence. Apparently, due to the length of the time trial, it is not a prologue, and instead it is given the title of Stage 1! Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin will lock horns in what should be a brilliant battle to start the race.
The Tour de France is the biggest race of the year in terms of the sheer number of markets on offer. No other race is given half as much attention by the bookies in the year, where sometimes we have to make do with a winners' market and not much else.
The Team Classification is a prize given to the best team in the race. It was first awarded in 1930, but there are no jerseys to be worn by the winning team, instead the riders get to wear a yellow coloured race number to distinguish them. Sometimes a team will wear a yellow helmet also but that's not a requirement, more a vanity thing.
The 2015 Tour de France looks like it could be the most competitive and exciting in many a year. Last year's race was billed as being a battle between Contador and Froome, with Nibali a lively outsider, Nairo Quintana had skipped it after winning the Giro d'Italia. As it turned out, Chris Froome lasted less than a week and Contador not much longer, as bad crashes denied us the opportunity of seeing them battle it out with eventual winner Vincenzo Nibali.
I have covered the Favourites in this other preview already, now let's take a look at the best of the rest to try to find someone who could possibly cause one of the shocks of the century by beating the four favourites. As I mentioned in the Favourites preview, there is apparently only about a 5% chance that the winner will come from all of the remaining 194 riders!
The battle for the other leader's jerseys in the Tour de France are as keenly fought as the battle for the yellow jersey, with the sprinters jersey and the KOM jersey two of the most famous in cycling. There have been careers and legends made by winners of both of these jerseys over the years.
The route for the 2015 Tour de France looks like it's going to be a fascinating and exciting race for sure.
It starts for the fifth time in the Netherlands in the town of Utrecht and sweeps along the coast, passing through Belgium for a finish on the iconic Mur du Huy on stage 3.
A look at stages 1 to 8 of the Tour de France 2015.
A look at Stages 9 to 15 of the Tour de France 2015.
A look at stages 16 to 21 of the Tour de France 2015.
