It's a Tour where all the big names in pedaling – just missing Nibali and Dumoulin – play hide and seek, the one that starts from Dusseldorf on Saturday 1st July. Also Chris Froome, three times the absolute master of the race, tries to remove the forecasts that see him once again as a favorite, a candidate for a historic poker event. He doesn't like the route, with too few kms in the time trial and only three uphill finishes. Behind him, the British born in Kenya also has a season devoid of successes, even punctuated by performances well below expectations, especially disappointing at the Dauphiné Criterium, often detached in the Alps, in a race that he had always won in the years of his three successes in the Tour. Pretactic of the eve? It can be seen that Team Sky is still betting on him, so much so that in recent days they have renewed a substantial three-year contract for him. For Froome, who shows off his modesty after years of haughty pride, the favorite for the yellow jersey is Richie Porte: given what the Tasmanian has been up to last year in the Tour and the Giro, it seems like a boutade. Lots of yields, modest placings, only one time in the top ten at last year's Tour, lots of dust and few altars.
But this season, proclaimed leader at the Bmc, Porte appears regenerated: winner of the Tour de Romandie, second in the Dauphine, beaten by the Danish Fuglsang for bonuses, Porte could immediately put his time trial skills to good use in the prologue against the clock in Dusseldorf, perhaps even conquering the yellow jersey if he manages to repel the attack of other specialists such as Tony Martin or Primoz Roglic. But it will be the second part of the Tour, with the Pyrenees and the Alps, to test his yellow ambitions, however comforted by the same bookmakers who quote him 2,90 not far from Froome himself given at 2,50. Seeing the betting desk, the Tour should be a duel between the two of them, up until two years ago they were teammates at Team Sky. A forecast that is too clear-cut to even appear risky because in the starting lineup there are other respectable top players who leave from Dusseldorf with the aim of the podium if not the yellow jersey: there is Nairo Quintana who, after a Giro d'Italia closed in second place but who saw him less strong than usual uphill, he wants to go back to being the Condor determined to leave his mark in the most important race on the world calendar. To give him a hand there will be the timeless Valverde. More than Contador who appears to be on his way to sunset with his pedaling en danseuse that stings less and less or Esteban Chaves, who literally disappeared after the excellent Giro of 2016, Fabio Aru could be the big surprise of this Tour. The Sardinian, fresh winner of the tricolor jersey, finally appears to be back in great shape. He's young, full of grit and an empty stomach with a great desire to do well and win. At the Dauphiné he tried shots that immediately thrilled his many fans. The route seems tailor-made for him who doesn't like long time trials.
With Fuglsang he forms one of the most solid couples on the Tour start-list that Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish will race in search of very special prestigious records: the sixth green jersey of leader of the points classification which would bring the Slovakian world champion on a par with the current record holder, the German Eric Zabel; for the British sprinter the goal to reach is Eddy Merckx's 34 stage victories: Cavendish, after last year's poker, is at 30. It won't be easy for him, given his rather poor form and the fierce competition from sprinters, from Greipel to Kittel, from Demare to Bouhanni. But there is no shortage of steps to try. Two more themes - the personal goals of Sagan and Cavendish - to make a Tour attractive that seems the least obvious in recent years for the fight at the top according to the mood of the eve. On the eve of yet another case of doping which led to the exclusion from the race André Cardoso, the Portuguese follower of Contador at Trek-Segafredo, who tested positive for erythropoietin in a surprise check by the UCI dating back to 17 June. A case similar to the one discovered before the start of the Giro with the disqualification of Pirazzi and Ruffoni, which confirms how difficult it is for cycling to eradicate the scourge of resorting to prohibited pharmacies.
