Over the years, he has more or less become synonymous with British cycling, though in a managerial rather than a riding capacity. Thus, he has stood shoulder to shoulder with Chris Froome during the recent past as the SKY DS, particularly in the Tour de France.

Little wonder, hence, that Sir Dave Brailsford takes an optimistic view when asked if Froome could win next year's Tour.

"I cannot see why he wouldn't. There are a couple of time trials in there, albeit they are not traditional time trials. Mont Ventoux is somewhere he really likes going. He has been there before and, if he performs well up there, that could be good,” Brailsford told SkySports.com.

"I can't see any reason why he [Froome] won't be rubbing his hands together. You have got to race what is in front of you. That is the great thing about the Tour de France - every year is different."

ITT more decisive than summit finishes
There will be two individual time trials in next year’s Tour de France, the first coming on stage 13, the day after the peloton has dealt with the notorious Mont Ventoux, and covering 37km of rolling road, while the second ITT follows on stage 18 and is almost all uphill for a 17km stretch.

According to Brailsford, the time trials might prove to be even more significant than the summit finishes when it comes to determining the final GC.

“The second one is definitely uphill and the first one, there is quite a hard section in the middle, there is a technical descent and it's rolling, so it's a challenging course. But he is a good time-trialist, and so if we support him to get his preparation right and he goes in there with the right condition, he could look to capitalise on the time trials.”

This year Chris Froome won the Tour de France on a parcours that was practically devoid of any time trial kilometres.