While the biggest Tour favourites finish off their final preparation race for the world's biggest race at the Dauphiné, most of the remaining GC riders for this year's edition of La Grande Boucle are ready to take on their last challenge prior to their big objective. Formerly known as the world's most prestigious week-long stage race, the Tour de Suisse has lost some of its ability to attract the world's biggest stars in recent years but the 9-day race remains an outstanding event that every rider would love to add to their palmares. Once again the Swiss race has lost out to the Dauphiné in the battle for the most star-studded line-up but a challenging, mountainous course will guarantee a week of perfect Tour preparation and a fascinating battle for the win in the longest WorldTour stage race outside the grand tour category.

Switzerland plays a very special role in the anatomy of the international cycling calender. While the Alpine country is way too small to host a grand tour, it has built up a reputation as a formidable place to prepare for a grand tour. Traditionally, the country's two biggest stage races, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, have been big preparation races for the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France respectively, as they are both held close to the start of the grand tours and offer the perfect mountainous terrain for the riders to test their legs.

However, that position has come under threat in recent years and both Swiss stage races are no longer seen as the best event to prepare for the Giro and the Tour. While the Tour de Romandie has lost the battle against the Giro del Trentino and has evolved into the final prestigious stage race in the early season for the Tour riders, the national tour has been involved in a tight fight with the Criterium du Dauphiné over the role as the best preparation for the Tour.

The French race appears now to have come out triumphant and most of the biggest Tour stars have preferred to head to the French Alps during the month of June. That does, however, not change the fact that the Tour contenders are usually split between the two races and despite the fact that 5 of the bookmakers' biggest favourites for the Tour (Froome, Contador, Porte, Valverde and Rodriguez) are all battling it out on French soil these days, the Swiss race is once again able to present a solid line-up of expected Tour protagonists.

The data, however, makes it evident that the Dauphiné is now the preferred event by most of the biggest stars. The last Tour winner to prepare the world's biggest race in Switzerland was Lance Armstrong who deviated from his usual schedule in 2001 by racing (and winning) the Swiss event. Armstrong only returned to the Swiss event after his comeback in 2010, and since 2001 the Tour winner has always raced the Dauphiné. Last year Thibaut Pinot finished 10th in the Tour and was the best rider who had prepared his race in Switzerland. The top 9 riders had all been racing the Dauphiné.

It is, however, a question of individual preference, and while a few riders always prepare at the same event, most vary their choice from year to year. Alberto Contador and Team Sky always head to France while riders like the Schleck brothers and Andreas Klöden prefer the Tour de Suisse. The race even attracts some of the best French riders like Thibaut Pinot and Jean-Christophe Peraud who want to escape the media pressure in their home country.

The main problem for the Swiss event is of course is geographical location. It has few chances to test out parts of the Tour route - something which the Dauphiné has exploited heavily since ASO took over the event in 2010. On the other hand, the race is held one week closer to the Tour start than the Dauphiné and the riders have different preferences as to the timing of their final big preparation race.

However, organizers have also contributed to their fate themselves. The 2009 and 2010 courses were way too easy, offering very few mountain stages for the riders to test their legs, and some criticized the 2009 edition for being designed with the sole purpose of facilitating an overall win by the national star, Fabian Cancellara. In recent years, the organizers have once again included more mountain stages, and this year's route appears to be harder than it has been for years.

The race still enjoys a very special position on the cycling calendar as it is the longest race on the WorldTour outside the grand tour category. It is one day longer than the Dauphiné and was formerly known as the fourth most prestigious stage race in the world. While that position has now been lost, its role as a national tour adds to its position, and it is still race that all riders would love to add to their palmares.

Furthermore, the race has a formidable ability to attract riders from the Giro. It may be due to the extra week of recovery but while the Dauphiné has only seen a few high-profile - and very successful - Giro-Dauphiné doubles, the Tour de Suisse usually has a number of Giro contenders on their start list. This year is no exception as 4th placed Michele Scarponi and 10th placed Domenico Pozzovivo are two riders from the Giro top 10 who will also be at the start line in Switzerland.

The race still has the upper hand over the Dauphiné in one aspect. While the Dauphiné is held in a region with very few flat roads and so finds it very difficult to attract the sprinters, the Tour de Suisse is obliged to visit all parts of Switzerland which are not all mountainous. That means that the race usually has plenty of opportunities for some of the fast men. The hilly nature of the country and the organizers' preference for difficult final circuits mean that the pure sprinters have few chances in the race but the tougher bunch kick experts always find plenty of stages to their likings. It is no wonder that Peter Sagan won two stages in 2011 and four last year, and this year's edition could very well evolve into another Sagan show.

Last year Rui Costa rode into the leader's jersey by taking a stunning solo win in the first mountain stage, and he used strong assistance from teammate Alejandro Valverde to overcome some tough moments in the final weekend  to take his first ever win in a big WorldTour stage race. Otherwise, the race was completely dominated by Peter Sagan who beat Cancellara in the opening prologue and won another three stages in bunch sprints. Both Costa and Sagan are back this year and while the latter hopes to add to his formidable tally at the race, Costa hopes to repeat last year's win and continue his love story with Switzerland after having also finished on the Tour de Romandie podium in 2012 and 2013.

The course

As claimed above, this year's course is much tougher than in recent years, and three hard mountain stages and an uphill time trial should make sure that we will see a really spectacular edition. As usual, the race kicks off with a prologue and this year's short time trial is 8,1km long, takes place in the city of Quinto and is officially known as stage 1 due to its length. In recent years, the prologue has often contained a tough climb and in 2010, 2011 and 2012 the organizers used a spectacular course in Lugano. That route consisted of a steep climb and a very technical descent, making it suitable to explosive climbers who were also formidable descenders. That made it possible for Sagan to beat Cancellara last year but it will be hard for the Slovakian to repeat that feat this year. The 8,1km course has two smaller climbs and is a rather technical affair, thus perfectly suited to the real prologue specialists and we could very well see the big home favourite take the early lead as he has done so often before.

The race heads directly into the mountains with the first of several crucial days for the GC riders. The short 161,3km stage starts in Quinto and heads directly up the tough HC climb Nufenenpass to reach an altitude of 2478m above sea level. The climb is located too early to make a real difference but should serve as a perfect attacking ground for opportunists. The descent is followed by more than 100km of gradually descending valley roads, leading to the bottom of the day's final climb up to Crans-Montana. The category 1 climb (13,9km, 6,8%) is often used in the event and was the scene for Mauricio Soler's last big win in 2011, just days before a crash made a tragic end to his career. The climb will make the first big separation between the contenders and show who has what it takes to win this year's race.

There will be no time to rest as the GC riders face another tough challenge already in stage 3. The 204,9km stage from Montreux to Meiringen starts out with a 10km uncategorized climb which is followed by flat and slightly undulating roads for most of the day. A small category 4 climb with 34,5km to go is just an appetizer for the day's main challenge, the category 1 Hasliberg (10,5km, 6,3%). From the top, only 19,4km remain and they are almost all downhill. The stage is most likely to be won from an early breakaway but we could see the GC riders attack each other if the opportunity arises.

The sprinters will get their first chance in Tuesday's fourth stage. The 174,4km stage from Innertkirchen to Buochs is mostly flat despite the presence of two tough category 2 climbs. From the top of the last of those, 40,5km remain and they are only punctuated by a small category 4 ascent with 25,2km to go. From then on, the roads are completely flat and we should see the many sprinters go head to head for the first time.

The sprinters will get an immediate opportunity for revenge in the fifth stage which is held on a typical Tour de Suisse route. The first 125,3km of the 178,4km stage from Buochs to Leuggern are held on slightly undulating roads containing a sole category 4 climb. With 53,1km to go, the riders cross the finish line to start the first of two laps on a 26,5km finishing circuit and it is certainly not an easy one. Two category 4 climbs, the Loorweg (1,8km, 5,9%) and the Zurzibergstrasse (1,4km, 5,9%), both have to be tackled twice, and from the last passage of the latter only 12,9km remain. However, most of the sprinters in the race are also strong climbers and should be able to survive those challenges, thus making it unlikely that we will see anything different from a bunch kick at the end of the day.

Another typical Tour de Suisse stage awaits the riders on Thursday, and the 187,9km route from Leuggern to Mellen should be another one for the toughest sprinters. The first 110km are slightly undulating but mostly flat. The riders will then tackle the tough category 3 climb Scwändigstrasse (2,6, 10,0%) but it will be located too early to make any real difference. The real challenges will be the category 3 Limbergstrasse (3,0km, 6,8%) and an easier  uncategorized climb which both come inside the final 25km of the stage but they should do little to prevent the third consecutive sprint finish.

After 3 easier days, it is time for the GC riders to kick into action again in the 7th stage which has another often used finish. The 206km stage from Mellen to La Punt starts out on flat roads and only a small category 3 climb breaks the monotony. Then it is time for the long gradual category 1 climb up to Davos (22,2km, 2,6%), a slightly descending stretch, a small category 4 climb and a short descent. That leads the riders to the bottom of the HC climb Albulapass (24,2km, 5,5%) which is an often used climb in the race and tops out at 2315m above sea level. The same goes for the finish which consists of a short 9,3km descent to the finish in La Punt and it was last used in 2010 when Robert Gesink simply rode away from his rivals to take a huge stage win and the overall lead. The stage has the potential to do some serious damage on the GC with just two stages still remaining.

The GC riders will get a short breather and the sprinters a final opportunity on the penultimate day of racing. The 180,5km 8th stage from Zernez to Bad Ragaz starts out on flat roads before the riders climb the short category 1 Juliepass. From the top, 136,5km still remain and the first of those consist of a long gradual descent. From then on the roads are almost completely flat but the 40,1km finishing circuit - to be tackled only once - is punctuated by the category 3 climb Steigstrasse (2,8km, 7,4%). From the top, only 6,3km remain and they consist of a short descent and a flat run-in to the line. It will require a pair of climbing legs for the sprinters to survive that final challenge in a good position and there is little doubt that Peter Sagan is already licking his lips in anticipation.

The organizers usually finish off the national tour with a crucial stage and that is also true this year as the race's traditional long time trial will be held on the final day of racing. The race against the clock usually takes in a hilly, undulating course but this year's route makes for an interesting mix between a time trial for the specialists and a mountain time trial. The first 16,5km of the 26,8km stage from Bad Ragaz and Flumserberg are completely flat and suit the big, powerful riders. That will all change in the final part as the final 10,3km take the riders to the top of the Flumserberg. The climb is a really tough one and has an average gradient of no less than 9,0%, thus making it one for the pure climbers. The strange stage will make for some interesting bike choices and we could very well see a lot of riders change from the time trial bike to a road bike at the bottom of the climb. The stage will play a crucial role in determining the overall winner of the race and will surely be won by a very versatile rider, thus making a fitting end to a race that suits a rider with great all-round capacities.

The weather

The European weather has been terrible all season but the riders at the Dauphiné are enjoying some rare sunshine these days, thus having optimal conditions for their final preparations. Had the riders known more about the weather forecasts for next week's racing in Switzerland, they could very well have chosen to head to the Dauphiné instead.

Unfortunately, another big race is at great risk of being hampered by some really bad weather. An otherwise sunny Saturday will be interrupted by an afternoon shower, thus forcing the riders to tackle the opening prologue in wet conditions. The weather will not improve for Sunday's and Monday's stage which will both be held see plenty of rain and even temperatures that could be below the 10 degrees Celsius mark.

Tuesday should be another rainy day, though a little bit warmer, but Wednesday and Thursday should offer perfect conditions for a bike race with sunshine and temperatures around the degrees mark. That could all change for the crucial weekend as Friday's stage at this point in time is expected to be take place under some heavy rain. That could, however, all change when we get closer to the final days and the riders certainly hope that the beautiful midweek weather will stay on all the way to the end.

The favourites

The fact that the biggest favourites for the Tour have all chosen to head to Dauphiné could very well make the Tour de Suisse much more exciting. While the French stage race has developed into a one-man show, the Swiss event appears to be a much more level playing field. Few of the participants have a big week-long stage race in their palmares and still the line-up contains some of the most exciting stage racing talent in the world. This should make for some exciting racing but also means that the race is probably the WorldTour event in the first part of the season whose winner has been most difficult to predict.

The level playing field means that there are plenty of reasonable choices for the race's number one favourite, and the man we back for the overall win, may be an unexpected one. However, this year's Tour de Suisse could be the race that finally sees Thibaut Pinot take a huge win. After a number of quieter years in the early part of his professional career, he broke through on the biggest scene with his stage win and overall 10th place in last year's Tour de France and early indications this year are that he is going even stronger now.

He first performed strongly in the Volta a Catalunya in March where Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, Joaquin Rodriguez and Bradley Wiggins were the only riders to climb better than the young Frenchman. He missed a split on a descent in the first stage and had to settle for 8th but he was unusually strong so early in the year. The Vuelta al Pais Vasco was an forgettable experience as the short, steep climbs and hard fight for position does not suit him at all but he bounced back with a solid performance in the Tour de Romandie. In the queen stage, he made an aggressive performance but was hampered by the course modifications that saw the race being much easier than expected. The final flat time trial was not to his liking and he had to settle for 12th but both Catalunya and Romandie have marked him out as one of the very best climbers in the early part of the race.

He returned to competition after a short break in the Bayern Rundfahrt, a race which is not at all suited to his characteristics. However, his 14th place in the mostly flat time trial proved both that he is really strong right now and that he has improved his time trialling massively. The Tour de Suisse course suits him down to the ground as there is no long, flat time trial and the decisive climbs are all long, gradual ascents that should be to his liking. As a pure climber, he has performed strongly in mountain time trials in the past, finishing 8th in Crans-Montana in last year's Tour de Romandie and 6th in the mountain prologue in this year's edition of the Swiss race. If he can limit his losses in the prologue and the first, flat part of the final time trial, he has all chances to win his first ever major stage race.

Another very good winner pick is Simon Spilak. The Katusha rider won the Tour de Romandie in 2010 but has since failed to live up to expectations. That has all changed this year as the Slovenian has been one of the very best riders in the season so far. He gave indications of his new level already in February when only a bad day relegated him from 2nd to 4th. He bounced back by finishing 6th in the Paris-Nice before playing a support role for Joaquin Rodriguez in the Volta a Catalunya. He went on to be one of the very best climbers in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and came close to winning the queen stage to Eibar. In the end he had to settle for 4th which set him up for his standout performance in the Tour de Romandie later in the month. The Slovenian was the only rider capable of matching the speed of Chris Froome and took the stage win due to a deal with the Briton who rode himself into the overall lead. The next day he finished 5th in the completely flat time trial to seal his second place behind this year's Tour favourite and he even went on to finish second in the Rund um den Finanzplatz a few days later.

When he is not out favourite number 1, it is due to his lack of form in the recent Tour of Belgium. He is building condition for the Tour where he will be a key domestique for Rodriguez and he still lacked somewhat in the Belgian race. Nonetheless, he showed that he is not that far away from his best by finishing 13th in the flat time trial, the discipline not being his specialty. If he has ridden himself into form for this race, he could very well win not only the final time trial but also the entire race.

Tejay Van Garderen has been knocking on the door for a big stage race win for a number of years and he finally got that big triumph in last month's Tour of California. We won't take anything away from the American's dominant win but part of the story is that the line-up for the American race was not as strong as in previous years. The Tour de Suisse is a completely different ballgame and it will require the American to step up his level even further to take home a win in a big WorldTour stage race.

Had the organizers included a long, undulating time trial as usual, it would have favoured Van Garderen who is by far the strongest time triallist amongst the favourites. He could still end up winning the race against the clock to the top of the Flumserberg as his versatility should see him thrive in both sections of the course but his time gains will be much smaller than usual. At the same time, he has still not been able to climb with the very best in the big European races and the toughness of this year's mountain stages could see him lose more time than he can make up in the time trials.

That does, however, not mean that Van Garderen has no chance of winning. He is the most complete rider among the favourites and has generally improved his climbing a further notch this year. He proved that in both the Paris-Nice and the Criterium International where he finished 4th and 3rd respectively, and he managed to limit his losses in the mountains considerably. Most importantly, he has now overcome his tendency to go into the red too early and explode later in the climb. That ability will come in handy as he needs to take a defensive approach in the mountains and then hope to strike in the time trials.

Last year's winner Rui Costa has a very solid chance of making it two in a row. The foundations for last year's triumph were laid in the first mountain stage and the time trial but his win was greatly facilitated by a rather easy pair of mountain stages in the final weekend. In the Tour, he showed that he still has some work to do if he wants to be able to match the best climbers in the world on the long climbs.

This year he performed solidly in his home race, the Volta ao Algarve, finishing 2nd in the queen stage and 5th overall. He crashed out of his first major target, the Paris-Nice and returned with a below-par performance in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He went on to win the Klasika Primavera and an amazingly strong performance in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege showed that his legs had finally come around. That set him up for his second consecutive 3rd place finish in the Tour de Romandie where he climbed solidly and did a decent time trial.

Since then he has not raced and so his form is highly uncertain. However, he claimed earlier in the season that a defence of his title in Switzerland was a major target and so we expect him to come out with all guns blazing. However, he has generally performed much better on short, steep climbs and this year's Suisse course is loaded with long climbs in the high mountains. This could be a little bit too much for the Portuguese who will find it difficult to gain back all that time in the time trials. He is a decent time triallist, especially on hillier courses, and the final one should be to his liking. Whether his potential time gains here will be enough to hand him a repeat win is questionable, but he will surely be right in the mix.

Ryder Hesjedal is the big question mark in this year's Tour de Suisse. If the Canadian has managed to build up some solid form after his premature Giro exit, he should be the favourite to win this year's Tour de Suisse. The long climbs suit him perfectly, the fact that the race is rather long is tailor-made for his amazing ability to recover and the toughness of the time trial will be to his liking. However, the Canadian's major target is the Tour de France and he usually uses his final preparation race purely as training. This has been the case in Romandie the last two years and it could very well be the same in Switzerland this week. What could make him approach the event differently is the fact that he has not raced for a month and so a good performance could be important for his confidence prior to his main target. However, he will probably only test himself in a few key stages, holding something back in the remaining ones, and so he is an unlikely winner of the race.

Roman Kreuziger is a former winner of the event and he gets a rare opportunity to chase some personal success in this week's race. The fact that Alberto Contador's lieutenant for the Tour is not at the captain's side in the Dauphiné can only be explained by a wish from his Saxo-Tinkoff team to score some WorldTour points in Switzerland this week. Hence, we could very well see Kreuziger chase a repeat win in the race that saw him make a breakthrough performance in 2008.

The Czech was long regarded as one of the world's best stage racing talents but has faded in recent years. While his climbing has stabilized at a solid level, his time trialling has deteriorated dramatically. Hence, he will find the toughness of the time trial course to his liking and his 2008 win in the race was actually mostly based on a dominant performance in that year's mountain time trial.

His Amstel Gold Race win was impressive but otherwise his performances this year have not set the world on fire. His main goal has, however, always been the Tour and he should be approaching his peak condition now. If he can reach the level he showed at last year's Tirreno-Adriatico and in the early part of the Giro, he should be in with a solid chance of delivering the stage race win that has so far eluded his team captain Contador.

It is rare that we point to a 36-year old as one of the riders who has shown most improvement so far this season but Jean-Christophe Peraud actually deserves such an assessment. The veteran came late into road cycling and so he is a late blossomer. Already early in the season, he showed that he had stepped up his level by winning on Mont Faron in the Tour Mediteraneen on his way to an overall 2nd place and he went on to finish 3rd in the Paris-Nice. A 5th place in the Criterium International set him up for the Vuelta al Pais Vasco which saw his only disappointing performance so far this season despite some solid climbing early in the race. He finished his spring season with a 6th place in the Tour de Romandie where he once again climbed with the best and only a slightly disappointing performance in the race against the clock from the usually formidable time triallist prevented him from finishing even higher.

He has since re-started his season with some solid performances in the French races GP Plumelec and the Boucles de l'Aulne and he should be ready to battle for the win in Switzerland. His man strength remains the time trial and he should be able to put some time into the climbers in the two races against the clock. His standout performances have actually come in the Col d'Eze time trial in the Paris-Nice which marks him out as a potential winner of the final stage. He will have to step up his climbing a further notch to actually win the race but if he does, he could deliver the Ag2r team a very rare win on the WorldTour.

Finally, we will point to young Diego Ulissi as a winner candidate. After a number of years waiting for his big breakthrough, he has stepped up his game a little bit further early in the season. He finished 7th in the Paris-Nice before going on to win the Coppi e Bartali race a few weeks later. He started out the Vuelta al Pais Vasco strongly but suffered in the cold in the latter part of the race and he had clearly burnt his matches too when he lined up at the Ardennes classics.

He took a long break from competition but returned with a solid 6th place in the Bayern Rundfahrt a couple of weeks ago. In Switzerland, he will share captaincy duties with Michele Scarponi to form a dangerous two-pronged attack. The long climbs could be a little bit too tough for him as he seems to be a little bit better suited to some more explosive terrain. On the other hand, he has time trialled really strongly all season and could gain back some of the lost time in the races against the clock. It will be hard for him to win the race but a podium spot is certainly within his reach.

***** Thibaut Pinot

**** Simon Spilak, Tejay Van Garderen

*** Rui Costa, Ryder Hesjedal, Roman Kreuziger, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Diego Ulissi

** Daniel Martin, Janez Brajkovic, Igor Anton, Andreas Klöden, Michele Scarponi, Domenico Pozzovivo, Tanel Kangert, Bauke Mollema, Maxime Monfort, Nicolas Roche

* Peter Velits, Andy Schleck, Peter Stetina, Mathias Frank, Luis Leon Sanchez, Steven Kruijswijk, Wilco Kelderman, Christophe Riblon, Cameron Meyer, Thomas Löfkvist, Arnold Jeannesson, Jose Rujano, Johann Tschopp, Marcel Wyss