2015 Tour de France Race Preview
The details of this year's 2015 Tour de France are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
The 2015 Tour de France promises to be one of the most compelling editions in recent memory, with a course that appears tailor-made for the pure climbers and a cast of contenders that could produce a genuinely open and unpredictable race for the yellow jersey all the way to Paris.
The route this year takes the peloton on a demanding journey through some of France's most iconic mountain terrain, with the Alps and Pyrenees both playing central roles in deciding the final outcome. Race organizers have crafted a parcours with several summit finishes that will test the very best in the world, including a brutal finish atop La Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees and a punishing stage to Alpe d'Huez, the legendary climb that has broken so many dreams and created so many heroes over the decades. The final week in the Alps looks particularly savage, and it is there that the race could well be won and lost.
Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali arrives carrying the expectations that come with wearing the rainbow of success, though the Italian faces a considerably stronger field than the one he dominated so convincingly twelve months ago in a display that left many rivals looking desperately short of his class. Nibali is a master tactician and an exceptional descender as well as a fine climber, which makes him dangerous on any terrain, but questions remain over whether he can reproduce that same level of dominance against opponents who will be far more motivated and prepared.
Chris Froome is the man most people expect to challenge hardest for the overall victory. The Team Sky leader was forced to abandon the race in 2014 after a crash, and he arrives this year fit, focused, and apparently in exceptional condition. Froome won the Tour in 2013 and has unfinished business with this race. He will have the full might of Team Sky behind him, one of the most powerful and well-organized outfits in professional cycling, capable of controlling races in a way that very few other teams can match. If Froome is at his best in the mountains, he will be extraordinarily difficult to beat.
Nairo Quintana represents perhaps the most exciting threat to both Froome and Nibali. The young Colombian climber from Movistar finished second overall in 2013 and has matured considerably since then into one of the finest stage racers in the world. Quintana is a pure climber of exceptional ability, someone who appears almost to float uphill while others around him visibly suffer, and the high-altitude mountain stages on this year's route could play directly into his hands. Whether he has the time trialing ability to remain competitive in the race against the clock remains the key question surrounding his overall challenge.
Alberto Contador brings enormous experience and hunger to the start line in Utrecht, where the race begins with a time trial and team stage before heading into the mountains. The Spaniard has won the Tour twice and knows better than almost anyone how to read a grand tour and when to make his decisive moves. Contador is also capable of attacking on any kind of terrain and is not afraid to take risks when the moment demands boldness. He could prove decisive in shaking up the race when others might prefer to play it safe.
Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet give French cycling fans genuine reason for optimism that a home rider might be able to challenge near the top of the general classification for the first time in many years. Both riders have shown considerable improvement and demonstrated that they belong in conversation with the very best climbers in the world. The pressure of riding the Tour de France as a French contender before a passionate home crowd can be an enormous weight to carry, but both men appear to have the mental strength to handle it.
The race begins in the Netherlands with stages that will give the sprinters their opportunities and give teams time to assess their rivals before the real battles begin. Once the mountains arrive, the race will transform entirely, and those early days of relative calm will feel like a distant memory. The time trials scattered through the route will also play a significant role in separating the contenders and could be decisive in shaping the final podium.
The weather, the crashes, the mechanicals, and the thousand small moments of fortune and misfortune that define any grand tour make prediction an imprecise science, but one thing seems certain. This year's Tour de France has the ingredients to produce racing of the highest quality and a finish in Paris that may not be resolved until the very final mountain stages have been completed.
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