Cycling: The 103rd edition of the Tour of France starts in Le Mont-Saint-Michel on Saturday. With a week to go before the start of the tour, it's time to take a look at the Tour de France favourites. At the start are the best ranking drivers in the world. After 21 stages, the winner is traditionally honored in Paris. We picked the top favorites for the yellow jersey from 198 riders.
The four Tour de France favorites of 2016
As every year, at the end of June, the whole cycling world is wondering who can win the Tour de France. With 198 starters, the choice is large, but four drivers are right at the top of the list of favourites. At least since 2012, when Bradley Wiggins was the first Brit to win the Tour of France, his compatriot Chris Froome should not be missing from this list. Last year he won just ahead of the Colombian Nairo Quintana, who has already been able to prove his class and good form this season. Of course, he is just as much a Tour de France favorite as Alberto Contador. This was supposed to be his last Tour of France, but after his victory in the Tour of the Basque Country in April he wants to continue for another year. As the fourth favorite for the yellow jersey, we have identified the Australian Richie Porte, who now finally has the role of captain in the Swiss racing team BMC. Who will be ahead after 21 stages and a total of 3.519 kilometers? Here are our four Tour de France favorites.
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Nairo Quintana (Team Movistar)
The Colombian Nairo Quintana has competed twice in the Tour de France. In both 2013 and 2015 he was defeated by Chris Froome. The tables are to be turned this year and the chances of that happening are not bad at all. Although the 26-year-old has continuously improved in the time trial, his biggest opponent Chris Froome can still be considered stronger in this discipline. That's why it suits Quintana that only 2016 kilometers have to be ridden in the 54,5 Tour de France in a fight against the clock. Of these, 17 kilometers will be covered in a mountain time trial on July 21, where climbing skills will be more important than time trial abilities. Anyway, no one can fool him on the climbs. At the last event, Froome was unable to follow Quintana several times, especially in the last week, and lost valuable time. He was 24 seconds faster than the Briton on all mountain stages combined. He lost the tour on the first mountain stage in the Pyrenees and in the wind on the flat second section of the tour. The time lost there was 1:10 minutes and 1:28 minutes. In the Alps he was the strongest on the mountain, but the gap was already too big. In the end, 72 seconds were missing for the big win. In 2016, the Tour de France will again be run anti-clockwise, so that the Pyrenees come before the Alps. If Quintana has better legs in the second week, then he has the best chance of winning the tour. The Colombian is definitely in shape, because this year he has already won the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour de Romandie and a week ago also the Route du Sud in preparation. In difficult times, Quintana can also fall back on a very strong team. With Alejandro Valverde, who has finished in the top 8 five times in the Tour de France, he probably has the best helper in the mountains at his side.
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Chris Froome (Team Sky)
Chris Froome is what is commonly referred to as a late bloomer. Only at the age of 26 – and therefore exactly Quintana's current age – did Chris Froome join the ranks of the classification drivers. At the Vuelta a España 2011 he was used as a helper by Bradley Wiggins. Much too late it was noticed that Froome is faster than Wiggins. By the time he was given free rein, however, it was too late and he finished second, just 13 seconds behind Spain's Juan José Cobo. Many suspected a flash in the pan at the time, but at the latest at the Tour de France in the following year, these opinions were refuted. Chris Froome appeared to be faster than Bradley Wiggins again, but team orders forced him to fall behind and finished second overall in a Grand Tour again. From then on, the Briton, who was born in Nairobi, was the dominating man when there were a lot of time trial kilometers on tours and when he went into the mountains. In 2013 and 2015 he beat Nairo Quintana and won the Tour, which is why he is automatically one of the Tour de France favorites this year. However, quite a few experts think that Froome may have lost his lead over Quintana by now. This year, his fans had to wait a long time for a noteworthy result before he was able to demonstrate his good form at the Critérium du Dauphiné in time for the tour preparations. He won the week-long tour ahead of Romain Bardet and Daniel Martin. Richie Porte and Alberto Contador only finished fourth and fifth. The now 31-year-old probably faces the most difficult Tour de France of his career so far. He starts as the defending champion and top favorite, but Quintana, who is five years his junior, is shuffling his hooves. But Chris Froome doesn't have to worry about his teammates. As always, Team Sky is sending an excellent squad to the start. With Geraint Thomas, Wouter Poels, Mikel Nieve, Mikel Landa, Vasil Kiryienka and Sergio Henao, the team on the mountains in width certainly doesn't have to hide from anyone else. Still, the loss of Richie Porte hurts. The Australian is likely to continue up the mountains alongside Chris Froome for much of this year, but he will be doing so as a competitor and for Team BMC.
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Alberto Contador (Team Tinkoff)
He too should not be missing from the Tour de France favourites. When Alberto Contador won his first tour in 2007, he was just 24 years old. After the Lance Armstrong era and the scandalous 2006 Tour, the cycling world felt it had found a new absolute dominator. This was confirmed, because the Spaniard won all three major national tours at least once in the following years. A statistic that only Vincenzo Nibali can show in the current field of drivers. In the Tour de France, however, Contador hasn't even managed to get on the podium in recent years. Many experts therefore think that his heyday is over. In 2015 he won the Giro d'Italia and then only finished fifth in the Tour de France. This season he gave up the Tour of Italy to fully prepare for the tour. He won the Tour of the Basque Country and finished second overall at Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya. At the Critérium du Dauphiné, he stayed behind Chris Froome and Richie Porte, but set an exclamation point by winning the mountain time trial. In the flat time trial he will be inferior to Chris Froome, so he will have to attack the Brits in the mountains. Together with Nairo Quintana he could thus form an alliance. With Roman Kreuziger and Rafal Majka, Contador also has two potential top 5 candidates in his team, but they are completely subordinate to him. Tensions could only arise if Contador loses a lot of time right on the first mountain stage, because then World Champion Peter Sagan may request team support for the green jersey.
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Richie Porte (Team BMC)
The fourth in the group of Tour de France favorites is the Australian Richie Porte. He has been driving for the BMC racing team from Switzerland since the beginning of the year. Previously, he was Chris Froome's faithful helper and one of the most important men in the mountains. But he also knows Alberto Contador well, because in 2010 and 2011 he was a member of the Saxo-Bank team and thus the Spaniard's teammate. Since he has not yet been allowed to drive and finish a three-week national tour as captain, it is difficult to assess. In recent years, Richie Porte has always presented himself as one of the top drivers at one-week national tours. Twice Paris-Nice and once the Volta a Catalunya are his biggest successes so far. So far this year he has only had one win. He won the stage up Willunga Hill on the Tour Down Under but otherwise failed to live up to his expectations. He was only on the podium of a stage race again this year because of his third place at Paris-Nice. Still, the Australian shouldn't be underestimated. If he has timed his form building exactly, then he has the potential to win a three-week national tour. In the time trial he could be ranked second best of the top 4 behind Chris Froome. However, Richie Porte has to make concessions when evaluating his team. With Tejay Van Garderen he has a potential top 5 rider at his side, but the next best climbers in Team BMC are Damiano Caruso and Rohan Dennis. Should he slip into the yellow jersey early on, that task could be a lot more difficult for Team BMC than for the other three favorites' teams. For the first time this year, Richie Porte has the opportunity to pursue his own interests at the Tour de France. This new challenge can be both a curse and a blessing. If he's in good form and if he keeps his nerve and concentration, then he's a very good candidate for the podium.
You can find even more information about the Tour de France 2016, the route, the TV broadcast times and much more on our overview page
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