Possibly the most anticipated start to a Tour in the past decade, the Grand Depart in Fromentine, on the west coast of the country, is a time trial and not the traditional shorter prologue. All eyes will be on Lance Armstrong to see if the dominance he has shown in recent Tour time trials will continue and kickstart his campaign for a seventh Tour victory. He'll be challenged on the flat, 19 kilometre parcours by in-orm riders such as Michael Rogers, who is looking good after a successful Tour de Suisse, and Santiago Botero, whose class shined through at the Tour of Romandy. Fabian Cancellara, last year's surprise prologue winner, may have another surprise in store, and look to Brad McGee to throw up a threat; he's a perennial challenger for prologue honours - the extra distance shouldn't bother him too much, but his GC ambitions may control his push for opening day honours a little.
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Critérium du Dauphiné stage 6 live - first major summit finish showdown set to test GC challengers
Double Cat.2 ascent finale and mid-stage Cat.1 climb biggest challenges of this year's Dauphiné so far -
For affordable health-tracking tech, the Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor is our top value pick – now with a 32% discount, it's a great Amazon cycling deal
It's our choice as the best budget heart rate monitor on the market, covers all the bases in 'basic' HR tracking, and with 32% off it's even better value for money -
Has the UCI just banned Factor's new aero bike before it was even released?
Hoard of new rules include handlebar width, wheel depth and fork leg limits as Hope x Lotus track bike set to be banned -
'If he can follow Pogačar and Vingegaard here, we will go for more than third at the Tour' – crunch time for Remco Evenepoel at Critérium du Dauphiné
Soudal-QuickStep DS says final trio of mountain stages will determine Belgian's approach and goals for the Tour de France
