Tour de France 2020: An edition like no other
Riders will cover 3,140 kilometres in 21 stages, finishing in Paris on Sunday, September 20
Friday 28 August 2020 12:33, UK
The 107th Tour de France starts in Nice on Saturday and promises to be an edition of the race like no other that has gone before.
Riders will sign on in face masks in front of much-reduced crowds, racing under the looming threat the race might not even finish at all.
Under protocols issued by world governing body the UCI, the event will continue even if there is a positive coronavirus test within the peloton, but teams have been warned that if two or more of their riders test positive their entire squad could be withdrawn and sent home.
And so when riders roll out of Nice on Saturday morning, Paris will rarely have felt so far away.
Who are the favourites?
The battle for the yellow jersey should be fascinating.
When racing resumed in July, Team Ineos - who will race as the Ineos Grenadiers in France - were testing out a three-headed attack of Egan Bernal, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas - all former winners.
Meanwhile Jumbo-Visma, who have invested all they can to end Ineos' run of seven wins in the last eight years, were ready to counter with Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulin and Steven Kruijswijk.
But then Ineos dropped the bombshell that Froome and Thomas would stay home due to a lack of form, while their Dutch rivals lost Kruijswijk to a shoulder injury. They also saw Roglic suffer a heavy crash at the Criterium du Dauphine.
"I feel fine. I'm here at the Tour start now, so that's good news," said Roglic. "I'm ready just like the other guys here. I'm going to do my best and we will see how it goes."
There will be a strong Colombian challenge with Rigoberto Uran, Daniel Martinez, Sergio Higuita, Nairo Quintana and Miguel Angel Lopez queuing up to try to beat defending champion Bernal.
Thibaut Pinot will carry the weight of French hopes, 35 years after Bernard Hinault was the last home winner.
Where is the British challenge?
With no Froome and no Thomas, this is the first Tour in a decade without a British contender. Add to that Mark Cavendish's omission from the Bahrain-McLaren squad and suddenly years of British success seem a distant memory.
Four Brits will take the start line in Nice. Welshman Luke Rowe starts the race for the sixth time, while Connor Swift will make his Tour debut in support of Quintana.
Hugh Carthy is another Tour rookie and will be part of EF-Pro Cycling's squad to help Uran and Higuita.
Perhaps the best hope of British success will come from Adam Yates. The Mitchelton-Scott rider, who will join Team Ineos for the 2021 season, is on the hunt for stage victories.
"Targeting GC is a big ask and if you're not 100 per cent you're going to be left behind," he said. "There are a lot of stages this year for the breakaway, and I think that there will be a lot of chances. I'll just try to win a stage and keep it simple. From there we can do some good things."
Where could the race be won and lost?
The climbers will revel on a route which includes just one time trial - and one that comes on the side of a mountain for good measure.
After a lumpy start in the mountains around Nice, the first major general classification shake-up should come on stage four - a summit finish at the ski resort of Orcieres-Merlette.
Stage eight sees the peloton tackle the most difficult day in the Pyrenees which includes the hors category climbs of the Port de Bales and the Col de Peyresourde.
The race hits the Alps at the end of the second week. Stage 17 features the toughest summit finish of the race on the Col de la Loze, while the hors category climb to the gravel roads on the Plateau des Glieres on Stage 18 could shake up the order.
But the penultimate day of the race is where the yellow jersey will be decided. An individual time trial to the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles will mean the winner of the 2020 Tour will not be known until the final rider crosses the line.
