Chris Froome | Contenders Preview | Tour de France 2017 | Cycling Weekly

Chris Froome | Contenders Preview | Tour de France 2017 | Cycling Weekly

The Tour de France 2017 will continue the trend of recent years with a Grand Départ outside of France.

The race will start in Dusseldorf, Germany on Saturday July 1, with an individual time trial of 13.8km.

Dates: July 1-23, 2017
Stages: 21
Grand Départ: Dusseldorf, Germany
Finish: Paris, France
TV coverage (UK): Eurosport, ITV4

This opening stage will give time trial specialists with no overall aspirations the chance to pull on the yellow jersey, and will also set a benchmark for which GC contenders appear to have the best legs.

Defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) is an accomplished time triallist, so the opening TT will be a chance for him to put some early time into the likes of Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

However, anyone wishing to wear yellow into Paris three weeks later will be reluctant to take the overall lead this early on.

Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) was the stand-out performer in 2016 with his fourth place overall and victory in the young rider classification. Expected to line-up next to his twin brother Simon in 2017, the duo should be able to push bigger name GC riders for a podium place.

Alberto Contador put off his expected retirement to have one last crack at victory in the Tour de France, and after being forced out of the 2016 edition due to crashes and illness, he’ll be hungrier than ever for one last win to put him on the top step at a Grand Tour.

The route looks less mountainous than 2016, which could further suit Froome, but his victory is never assured until he’s put significant daylight between himself and his rivals.

A tactical howler from Team Sky at the 2016 Vuelta a España saw the British rider lose more time to Quintana on one stage than he lost by in total by the end of the race.

The organisers have been open about the fact that the 2017 Tour de France route has been designed to encourage attacking racing, which was lacking in 2016 – with the exception of Romain Bardet’s (ag2r La Mondiale) brilliant ride in the final week to take second overall.

In news that will please spectators more than commentators, each and every one of the Tour de France’s 21 stages will be shown live from start to finish in 2017.

For the first time since it launched in 2014, La Course by Le Tour de France will be held away from the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The women’s peloton will ride part of the men’s stage 18, which is also where L’Étape du Tour sportive will take place.

The women’s race will not reach the same summit as the men’s race or the amateur sportive, which has led to criticism from some fans.

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[rupertgladstone]

Fewer TT km than any post war tour? Technically that may be true, but it has more individual TT km than 2015, and only marginally less total TT km than 2015. So a strong individual time trialist should do better this year than in 2015. And Froome did win in 2015! Having said that, Porte is looking mighty strong this year. I only hope BMC send Van Garderen to help him in the mountains.

[mofomartianp]

Anquetil, Merckx and Indurain all doped for their 5 wins. Jacques and Eddie openly admit it now... and Miguel was Ferrari's doping prototype before Lance, so why do their titles still stand?

[jaman]

when lance in the tour, they all had theyre little secrets, and he had to hold his ground from alot of riders and teams. so yeah he was the best. these days its boring as hell, the tour i mean.

[johnoconnor]

So is froome the only contender? stupid video title.

[urby]

Sorry buddy, but Lance Armstrong has 7 tour titles. 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆