Fantasy Cycling: Tour de France stage 1 preview

Unusually, the 98th edition gets under way not with a Prologue but a road stage starting on the Passage du Gois, the causeway where Alex Zulle’s yellow jersey hopes suffered a mortal blow on Stage 2 in 1999 when he lost six minutes to Lance Armstrong.

This time, howver, the race will still be neutralised as the riders cross to the mainland. An uphill finish means this year’s first yellow jersey is likely to go to someone strong enough to tackle that climb while keeping enough in their legs for the sprint.

Thought for the Day

The Europcar team is based in the Vendée and Thomas Voeckler, winner of the Prix de la Combativité in last year’s Tour will know these roads better than most, having made his home here. 

GT’s tips

With that climb at the end, depending how hard it is, from our team someone like Edvald Boasson Hagen or Rigoberto Uran could do well, one of them should be up there for sure. Philippe Gilbert’s going well, and then you have riders like Alexander Vinokourov or Tony Martin. It will be interesting, fast and furious and could be quite a dangerous stage. With the yellow jersey on the line, it will be pretty intense. It’s a bit disappointing there isn’t a prologue but there’s still opportunities for us in this stage and the team time trial tomorrow.