The battleship Tour is ready to get underway from Mont-Saint-Michel with a start-list that is an authentic parterre de roi. It is the only race that manages to attract the best of the world pedal to its starting line. For the second time in a row, the big four of the grand tours will face each other: Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. But that's not all: this year there is also Fabio Aru to lead the charge of young talents such as the Russian Ilnur Zakharin together with old pedal heroes, the safe used of cycling, such as Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez.
These are the most popular names for the ranking even if the bookmakers concentrate favors in particular on the British Froome – fresh winner of the Dauphine Criterium whose chances of a historic trio are given at 2,5 – and Quintana, winner of the recent Route du South, quoted at 3,25. Contador follows them at 5 while Nibali is even given at 25, double that of Aru himself. The Shark, who won the pink jersey in the last Giro, has repeatedly said that he is in the Tour but has the Rio Olympics as his objective. And on the betting front it seems they believed him.
198 starters. The largest representation among the 35 countries is the French one with 38 runners. But this year too it seems very unlikely that the French will break the fast that has lasted since 1985, Bernard Hinault's last victory in the yellow jersey. Nor will it be easy to repeat last year's exploits with two transalpines, Jean-Christophe Péraud and Romain Bardet in places of honor behind Froome. Péraud had to forfeit due to injury. Special attention will be given to Julian Alaphilippe in his first Tour but for the top men classification it will still be Bardet and Thibaut Pinot rather than Pierre Rolland, rather in a waning phase. Even for the stage victories the French are not in good shape: absent Démare and Coquard, even Nacer Bouhanni unexpectedly stayed at home due to a hand infection suffered in a fight with a rowdy customer of the hotel where he was staying on the eve of the championship national.
13 Italians at the start. We are less numerous than the French and also the Spanish (18), Belgians and Dutch (both 15) but the blue pedal comes to the Tour for the first time with his two best pieces: with Nibali there is also Aru who after the success in last year's Vuelta he made the Tour this season's goal, for which he also gave up the Giro. Nibali, after winning the Giro, has the chance to score a double, a feat - Contador failed in 2015 - which would propel him among the greats of the past. Knowing the Shark, it's hard not to think about it even if you're careful not to show it. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be a good feeling between Aru and Nibali, so much so that there is already talk of Nibali in talks to lead a new Bahrain-branded team. It won't be easy in the Astana home to manage the two roosters.
Stage victories. The Tour is always decided in the mountains but in the stages for sprinters there will be fun with the greatest specialists of the final rush. The "boxer" Bouhanni will be missing, but all the best sprinters on the planet will be there: three Germans of the caliber of Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and John Degenkolb, who is returning to form after the winter accident; the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff and, awaited return after two unlucky years, Mark Cavendish is back, who has the record of stage wins to his credit with 26 successes. No other participant in the Grande Boucle has done better. Authentic tightrope walker of the pedal, there will also be the world champion, Peter Sagan, who will try to make his own the fifth green jersey of the points classification often conquered without ever winning a stage. But this year in the rainbow jersey the Slovakian enfant prodige has finally found a taste for winning, also putting his signature on the Tour of Flanders and abandoning forever the fame of eternal place.
Timeline. The first testing ground for the runners will be the Pyrenees, with a three-day high-altitude event between France, Spain and Andorra. July 14th is the stage of the dreaded Mont Ventoux, one of the peaks that made the Tour a legend, the scene of greats and also of tragedies (the live death of Tom Simpson in 1967). The bald mountain will anticipate the first scheduled time trial by 24 hours, 37 kilometers from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the Ardèche. Then, after the trespassing into Switzerland with the stage in Bern, the Alps will be climbed with three stages for eagles, with great differences in altitude, in particular that of Mont Blanc in Saint-Gervais and the penultimate one in Morzine before the final catwalk on the Champs Elyséès of Paris on July 24th.
Prize Pool. 500 thousand euros: this is the sum that falls to the winner of the Tour, 50 thousand euros more than what Froome received last year. All those who manage to finish the race in Paris will be entitled to a prize of one thousand euros, against the 400 euros of 2015. A stage victory will be compensated with 8 thousand euros. The total prize money up for grabs in the 103rd edition of the Tour is 2.295.850 euros. Basically how much Montella will earn in one year as the new AC Milan coach, regardless of the results.
