Robert Millar: Are they ready?

And that doesn’t just apply to the the riders. The best and worst thing about the Tour de France for a team is the pressure of it all, the size of the Tour organisation, the attention from the media and the spectators, the expectations and the responsibilities of each team member, be they rider or the bus driver, means they will all be pushed to their limits at some stage in the three weeks touring France. Those pressures become all the more intense the further up the ladder you to go, not because the decisions are fundamentally different for a wild card selection compared to Sky or BMC, it's just everything is analysed to nth degree when you are in a contender's team .

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Robert Millar was one of the last pure climbers of the Tour de France, winning several stages in the mountain stages and finishing fourth overall in 1984. He is also the only English speaker to have ever won the prestigious polka-dot jersey climber's competition jersey.

Millar retired in 1995 but has continued to follow the sport closely. He was often critical of the media and quickly cuts through the excuses and spin to understand why and how riders win and lose.