Tour de France countdown: 1 day to go – Live

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the countdown to the 2020 Tour de France.

With just one day remaining until Saturday's Grand Départ in Nice, you can follow all the latest news and updates here.

Thibaut Pinot 'on right track' for Tour de France victory

Frenchman may never get a better chance to win yellow jersey

Last night saw the team presentation held in Nice. 22 teams and 176 riders are set to take the start tomorrow.

Check it out here

Some overnight news – Remi Cavagna steps up for Deceuninck-QuickStep after Zdenek Štybar's withdrawal due to a knee injury, while AG2R La Mondiale's Oliver Naesen is aiming for a stage win with his free role at the Tour.

Big news from Ineos Grenadiers and reigning Tour champion Egan Bernal – the Colombian has said that he isn't fully recovered from the back injury that saw him abandon the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Get the full story here

Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) will be among the favourites to win Saturday's opening stage. Here he is in his new, clean-looking Italian champion's jersey. He will, by UCI rules, have to wear his (also new) European champion's jersey, though.

And here's Spanish national champion Luis Léon Sánchez in his new Spanish national champion's jersey.

Our Bernal story has been updated with more quotes and info from the press conference.

Meanwhile, team boss Dave Brailsford has made it clear the Colombian is the out-and-out team leader, despite the late call-up of Giro d'Italia champion Richard Carapaz.

Check out 2010 Tour winner Andy Schleck's GC favourites here.

A revision to the Tour de France's COVID-19 policy means that the 'two-strike' positive test rule will now only apply to riders. In short, if two riders from the same team test positive, that team will have to leave the race.

Follow-up testing will also be carried out in order to negate the possibility of false positives, after several cases of riders testing positive and then negative in recent weeks.

Canyon's new Aeroad will get an outing at the Tour de France. Both Movistar and Arké-Samsic ride the German brand of bikes, while Canyon-SRAM will use the new bike at La Course by Le Tour de France on Saturday.

The new Aeroad has a fully integrated cockpit as well as thicker seat stays and chain stays.

New from Groupama-FDJ's press conference today – "I’m stronger in the head, that’s for sure. Compared to the same point last year, I feel much more serene and much less pressure," said Thibaut Pinot.

Pinot: I'm stronger in the head after last year's Tour de France

If you're looking for ways to watch the Tour de France and La Course by Le Tour de France, then look no further than our dedicated guides, assisted by ExpressVPN.

How to watch the Tour de France

How to watch La Course by Le Tour de France

Vaughters: Urán is the godfather in our Tour de France team

EF Pro Cycling arrive in Nice looking to take every opportunity

Ineos Grenadiers team boss Dave Brailsford said yesterday that they would take a more collective approach after lead DS Nicolas Portal passed away in the spring. Brailsford also said that the team would continue to focus on the next wave of British talent after leaving Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome out of the Tour.

Read the full story here

Bahrain McLaren, Trek-Segafredo, Bora-Hansgrohe, NTT Pro Cycling – the press conferences are coming thick and fast today, and the stories will be coming up soon.

Peter Sagan is looking to claim his eighth green jersey in the Tour de France but before celebrating in Paris, he has a bigger and much shorter-term goal: taking the first maillot jaune in Nice on Saturday.

Read the full story here

Trek-Segafredo co-leaders Mollema and Porte await 'toughest' Tour de France

Porte looking to stay out of trouble ahead of final week 'death march'

Tomorrow we'll see the first sprint stage of the Tour. Deceuninck-QuickStep's sprinter Sam Bennett says that he's feeling the pressure ahead of a chance to take the first yellow jersey of the race.

Mikel Landa will enjoy a full behind him as the sole Grand Tour leader for the first time in his career at this Tour. "We started the season with a clear goal – we want to win the Tour de France. We're here at the start of the Tour to fight for the win," he said today.

Mikel Landa: The team is behind me at the Tour de France

We'll be running several rider diaries during the Tour. Expect updates from world champion Mads Pedersen, Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot, Deceuninck-QuickStep's Bob Jungels, and EF Education First GC hope Sergio Higuita.

Here's our first of the Tour, from Bob Jungels

And here's our latest news item from the swathe of press conferences of recent days. It's from Dauphiné winner Daniel Martínez of EF Pro Cycling.

Martínez: Anything is possible in this Tour de France

Our second blog of the Tour, courtesy of world champion Mads Pedersen.

It's been a while since we've seen a scandal break on the eve of the Tour de France, but here are again.

Today UCI president David Lappartient stated that he had instructed the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) to investigate the video which showed Deceuninck-QuickStep DS Davide Bramati remove an item from Remco Evenepoel's pocket shortly after his crash at Il Lombardia.

Read the story so far here