Tour de France: The major contenders

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