David Millar has told Velonews, that there are a lot of riders who are capable of winning Grand Tour general classifications. The former rider added that the competition is at an all time high.

"This is the greatest generation of Grand Tour riders that we’ve ever seen. We had six Grand Tour winners (Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, Contador, Nairo Quintana, Ryder Hesjedal and Alejandro Valverde) at the Tour de France last year. In my history of watching the sport, I’ve never seen anything like that."

With the emergence of Geraint Thomas and Thomas Dumoulin, Millar is convinced that we could have legendary Grand Tour battles this year. "We have Nibali, Quintana, Contador and Froome, as well as Dumoulin and G coming up, and Valverde is still chipping away. Grand Tours are more exciting now than I’ve seen in a very long time."

"With Contador not doing the Giro this year, maybe we’ll see him one last time at his best against Froome, who will be at his best alongside Nibali", Millar added. "The last few Tours have been a bit of damp squib so hopefully we can have the race we haven’t really had in the past couple of years. We’ve had these Grand Tour winners going against each other but it’s fallen by the wayside, one by one."

Millar is convinced that Dumoulin will be the main contender for the three-week races in the future. "In my eyes, after watching the Vuelta last year and seeing how he performed, he is the next big Grand Tour rider. He’s doing that classic development of not going straight in to the Tour. He’s got his head together in the way he really focused for the Vuelta and for the Giro this year."