At his pre-Tour press conference Alberto Contador did his best to try and put pressure on his main rivals in the French grand tour by naming them as the biggest pre-race favourites.

“I think Froome stands out as the top contender, for sure, and has a very strong team, but Nairo’s team and his ability to finish Grand Tours make him almost as big a favourite,” Contador said according to Cyclingnews.

Furthermore, Contador resolutely rejected any notion that the Tour's GC battle could be boiled down to a two-way fight between himself and Chris Froome.

"That would be the wrong way of looking at it. I know I’m in a good condition to fight for the Tour, I’ve done it several times and I can be pretty confident of the way I analyse how I’m feeling. But although it’s a good route for me, it will definitely take 25 days before we know for sure what the outcome of this Tour is.” The difficult third week, of course, reinforces Contador’s argument about ‘waiting and seeing’.

As regards the Tour route, Contador reasoned that the outcome will be “open until the last moment, and in fact I consider that last stage the hardest. It’s one of the hardest Tours in years, and that means recovery is going to be the most important factor of all.”