Questioned this morning by letour.com, BMC directeur sportif Yvon Ledanois said:

"I'm glad if the others are afraid of us. I'd rather scare people than being scared. In any case, we don't fear anybody.We're aware that we have the riders to win, we're the reigning world champions.

"Looking at the circuit, other teams can also fare well. I think of Movistar, who will ride a good TT, I know it's a circuit that suits them. Obviously, Etixx is not the same team without Tony Martin. Now the level after a week in the Tour won't be the same as after three days in the Dauphiné.

"There's still nine of us and among those nine, our leaders have never been in trouble. I believe that if we don't have any problem, we'll be in yellow tonight. It would be a disappointment not to be. If we're not, it will mean we've been beaten by better teams and fair enough."