It's fairly rare for Christian Prudhomme, the Tour de France director, to name one rider as a stand-out favourite for a stage. But when even Prudhomme predicts on the Tour's website that in the opening time trial in Dusseldorf "a multiple world-champion boosted by the support of his fans could well be the fastest man," it's pretty clear whom he's talking about.
Take a bow, Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), all but officially, then, as the man to beat on Saturday night's prologue in Dusseldorf. Martin's time trialling credentials could not be bettered, of course, given he was World TT Champion for a fourth time last year in Qatar last year - where, let's not forget, the course was similar to Dusseldorf this weekend: pancake flat, fast, straight and largely untechnical.
So much for the good news. On the downside for the German is the speculation that at 32, Martin may not be as strong against the clock as he used to be, with his first time trial win since Qatar last year coming just last Friday, in the German national championships. Nor was the time gap in Chemnitz 48 kilometres course on silver medallist Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar Team) of 15 seconds as big a margin as in last year's nationals, when Martin's winning margin on the same rider, and over a shorter distance by seven kilometres, was a thumping 1:39 minutes.
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Still, Martin's win means that he now has taken Germany's time trial title for a staggering six years in a row and he will roll down the Dusseldorf start ramp as both defending national and World Champion. That's a huge double ration of motivation, then, on a Tour stage when the stakes could never be higher for the German. Because for the first time in Martin's career - and, at 32, very possibly the last - Martin will have the chance to take the Tour's yellow jersey on home soil and in his own trademark speciality.
Understandably, this sense of not being an 'ordinary' Grand Tour time trial is beginning to tell a little on Martin, particularly in lesser - but important - goals like the German nationals. "The time gap [on silver] in the national's wasn't as big as I'd have expected," Martin told Cyclingnews after winning the TT, " but the result was ok. The thing is, there's less than a week to go before the Tour and I'd got my head already set on the Tour, so that made it quite it a hard day for me."
With so much at stake on Saturday, Martin's pre-race nerves may be higher than usual, too, even for a rider whose first Tour was in 2009, who's already led the race - back in 2015 - and with five Tour stage wins to his name. But whatever the outcome, he says, riding on home soil in Dusseldorf means the opening 14 kilometres of the 2017 Tour de France will not be quickly forgotten.
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