live

Tour de France countdown: 3 days to go – Live

Live-reports
By , published

All the latest news in the build-up to the 2020 Tour de France

Refresh

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

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

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

2021 Merida Reacto Team-E Disc

Bahrain McLaren's Merida Reacto IV (Image credit: Aaron Borrill)

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.

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.

And here's our story.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

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.

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.

Ineos Grenadiers Pinarello Dogma

(Image credit: Pinarello)

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

Miguel Ángel López and Harold Tejada in action at La Route d'Occitanie

Miguel Ángel López and Harold Tejada in action at La Route d'Occitanie (Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

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.

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.

GRAND COLOMBIER FRANCE AUGUST 09 Daniel Martin of Ireland and Team Israel StartUp Nation during the 32nd Tour de LAin 2020 Stage 3 a 145km stage from Saint Vulbas to Grand Colombier 1501m tourdelain TOURDELAIN TDA on August 09 2020 in Grand Colombier France Photo by Justin SetterfieldGetty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Those new Ineos Grenadiers kits...

(Image credit: Ineos Grenadiers / George Solomon)

Caleb Ewan eyeing stage wins over Tour de France green jersey

Here's our preview of Saturday's La Course by Le Tour de France

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

The Netherlands Marianne Vos C celebrates as she crosses the finish line of La Course by Le Tour as part of the 106th edition of the Tour de France cycling race in Pau on July 19 2019 Photo by JEFF PACHOUD AFP Photo credit should read JEFF PACHOUDAFP via Getty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Israel Start-Up Nation owner: I'm not disappointed at Chris Froome missing Tour

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

Latest on Cyclingnews