The Tour de France is 80 days away but with all of the race favourites having opened their racing accounts for the season, Cyclingnews takes a look at the contenders and ranks them according to form and pedigree.
1. Chris Froome (Team Sky)
Overview: The defending champion hasn’t raced this deep into a season without picking up a win since 2012, but the three-time Tour winner will be unshaken by that stat given that he has only clocked up 13 race days in 2017. The inability to defend his Sun Tour title matters little, and the showing at Lo Port, where he matched Alberto Contador, and conceded just 13 seconds to a rampant Valverde, will leave him relatively content. The error on the road to Reus will sting, however, and provides further evidence that Team Sky are vulnerable. Despite Valverde’s flying form and Froome’s gentle built up to the Tour-Vuelta double, the British rider is still the man to beat.
Highlight: Holding Contador at Lo Port and dropping a number of Tour rivals in the process.
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Lowlight: Almost missing the time cut on stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya will have Brailsford in cold sweats. As if the Principal needed another problem to worry about.
Next race: Tour de Romandie
2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
3. Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo)
4. Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
5. Richie Porte (BMC Racing)
6. Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)
7. Daniel Martin (QuickStep Floors)
8. Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates)
9. Esteban Chaves (Orica Scott)
10. Fabio Aru (Astana)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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