Tour de France countdown: 3 days to go – Live

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

With just three days to go until Saturday's Grand Départ in Nice, you can follow all the latest news and updates here.

We have a couple of Tour features up already today.

Dan Benson has analysed Bahrain McLaren's Tour de France team, which will be led by Mikel Landa. It's a sea change from last year's squad, with only three riders retained, while 30-time stage winner Mark Cavendish was not selected.

Analysing Bahrain McLaren's Tour de France squad (opens in new tab)

There's also this Nairo Quintana, the end of his time at Movistar and his new beginning at Arkéa-Samsic by Barry Ryan.

A tale of two teams: Nairo Quintana and the revival of a Tour de France dream (opens in new tab)

Teams will be holding their pre-Tour press conferences in the coming days, starting this afternoon.

Look out for news from Astana, Israel Start-Up Nation, Team Ineos and more later on today.

Meanwhile, Josh Croxton has whipped up an wide-ranging tech preview, taking a look at the bikes, components and accessories we can expect to see at the Tour.

Tour de France bikes: A comprehensive tech preview (opens in new tab)

Meanwhile, there's other racing to do before the Tour, namely the UEC European Championships. 

Follow live coverage of the men's road race here. (opens in new tab)

Ineos – or Ineos Grenadiers as they'll be known – will be introducing their new look later today.

Andy Schleck's GC ratings

We've spoken to ex-pro Andy Schleck this afternoon, so look out for that interview tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's how he rates the main GC contenders at the moment, with Primož Roglič on top.

★★★★★ Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma)

★★★★☆ Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Egan Bernal (Team Ineos)

★★★½☆ Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep)

★★★☆☆ Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic)

★★☆☆☆ Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rigoberto Urán (EF Pro Cycling), Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma)

Bahrain McLaren have announced that their partnership with the British carmaker will conclude at the end of 2021.

More to come...

And here's our story.

McLaren set to leave WorldTour (opens in new tab)

The women's race, La Course by Le Tour de France, will tackle a 96km route around Nice on Saturday.

Here's the start list for the Women's WorldTour race. (opens in new tab)

Israel Start-Up Nation's press conference has just started. We're in (virtual) attendance, and we'll get you the latest news from it as it comes.

The men's road race at the European Championships has just finished.

Check out our race report here. (opens in new tab)

The big news from the Israel Start-Up Nation press conference is that Dan Martin will be racing the Tour. He's in the eight-man team despite fracturing his sacral in a crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

We'll have more from ISN soon...

Meanwhile, Pinarello have unveiled the bikes that Team Ineos will be riding at the Tour after their rebrand to Ineos Grenadiers. The black and red paint scheme on the Dogma F12 and F12 X-Light road bikes is set to match the team's new-look kits.

New Pinarello bikes for renamed Ineos Grenadiers (opens in new tab)

The first piece of news from Astana's press conference earlier today – team leader and Tour debutant Miguel Ángel López has welcomed the selection of young compatriot Harold Tejada.

Miguel Ángel López welcomes neo-pro Tejada's Tour de France selection (opens in new tab)

Ineos Grenadiers (yep, we've officially made the switch from Team Ineos now) have unveiled their new kit. Leaks have been floating around for a while but the new dark blue and red look is official.

Ineos Grenadiers reveal new jersey ahead of Tour de France (opens in new tab)

Earlier reports had suggested that teams would have to leave the Tour de France should they record two or more positive COVID-19 tests at the race, but that rule will now be changed, according to French newspaper L'Equipe.

Read the full story here. (opens in new tab)

Dan Martin has made it into the Israel Start-Up Nation Tour de France squad, just two weeks after crashing and fracturing his sacrum in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

He and the rest of hte ISN team will be targeting stage victories in France.

Read our story here. (opens in new tab)

Those new Ineos Grenadiers kits...

Caleb Ewan eyeing stage wins over Tour de France green jersey (opens in new tab)

Degenkolb says his Lotto Soudal teammate is the fastest in the Tour

Here's our preview of Saturday's La Course by Le Tour de France (opens in new tab)

Vos returns to defend one-day title as expectations rise for a multi-day women's Tour de France

Israel Start-Up Nation owner: I'm not disappointed at Chris Froome missing Tour (opens in new tab)

'I'm not surprised that he needs a bit more time' says Sylvan Adams