With just one day to go until the 2019 Tour de France is set on its way from Brussels, Belgium, Cyclingnews brings you our 10 riders to watch at this year's race.
Picking just 10 riders on what is cycling's biggest stage, with all 176 riders champing at the bit and hoping to make a difference over the next three weeks, was never going to be easy, and our 'honourable mentions' list is truly too long to mention all the deserving riders, with this being the Tour de France n' all.
But this is, remember, '10 riders to watch' rather than our prediction of the top 10 overall in Paris, and so we've included Deceuninck-QuickStep's Elia Viviani – arguably the world's fastest sprinter right now – and exciting youngster Wout van Aert, who's making his Tour debut, and who will be extremely interesting to monitor.
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Look beyond this list, however, to Astana's Jakob Fuglsang, who's been arguably the best of the GC contenders so far this year, and to Mitchelton-Scott's Yates brothers, and Adam Yates, in particular. And to Michael Woods – EF Education First's Canadian climber – who could eclipse his more experienced teammates in what is his first Tour, and could even find himself in a leadership role if Rigoberto Urán and Tejay van Garderen fail to fire.
As we say, there are simply too many riders to mention, but here are just 10 of them that should provide a good story or two over the coming weeks.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)
Can a Frenchman finally win the Tour for the first time since Bernard Hinault in 1985? The French media have certainly developed a 'now or never' approach, and something just feels 'right' about the development of both Thibaut Pinot and AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet (see below), who are surely coming into their prime at the ages of 29 and 28, respectively.
Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos)
Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos)
Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo)
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-riders-to-watch-at-the-2019-tour-de-france
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