The 110th Tour de France will get underway in Bilbao today, with 176 riders taking on the gruelling 2,115-mile course over 21 testing days.
Mark Cavendish will bid to win a record-breaking 35th stage on his final Tour and the veteran has been remarkably relaxed ahead of his much-anticipated last dance.
Elsewhere, all eyes are on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, the two favourites once again primed to battle it out to clinch the hallowed yellow jersey.
There are also a number of other riders, including Britons, to keep an eye on.
Here, ORLA CHENNAOUI, leading cycling commentator Eurosport and Warner Bros. Discovery, has provided a helpful lowdown on what to expect…
Mark Cavendish will look to win a record-breaking 35th stage at this year’s Tour de France
JONAS VINGEGAARD (26, Denmark, Jumbo-Visma)
The defending champion. Jonas has finished on the podium in every stage race he has raced this year, most recently winning the Criterium du Dauphine.
He is at his strongest in the high mountains, where he can grind everyone off his wheel to be the last man standing.
Jonas also has the team around him to do the surprise attacks for him. Jumbo-Visma are an incredible force as a team and so spectacular when they do things well. But when things go badly, they implode and there is chaos. UAE Team Emirates need to be ready to exploit that and break Jonas because right now he is the favourite.
Jonas Vingegaard is the defending champion and his team are an incredible overall force
TADEJ POGACAR (24, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates)
We don’t really know how Tadej is going to go. He had a crash at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April and broke his left wrist, so his build-up for this race has been less than ideal.
He hasn’t done a stage race since his crash and the Tour puts pressure on the body unlike any other sporting event. But he has just won the Slovenian national road race and time trial. He also has a much stronger team around him this year than when he won the Tour in 2020 and 2021.
ADAM YATES (30, Great Britain, UAE Team Emirates)
Adam has had an incredible build-up to this race. He won the Tour de Romandie and he was second to Jonas in the Dauphine. He also finished fourth at the Tour in 2016.
This is his first year with UAE and he is really settling into his role. He has been named as their co-leader alongside Tadej and is probably their Plan B.
If we get to the end of the three weeks and Jonas and Tadej are on the top two steps, Adam is my sneaky bet for third spot.
Adam Yates has enjoyed a superb build-up and could be a sneaky bet to clinch third place
MARK CAVENDISH (38, Great Britain, Astana Qazaqstan)
I was filming with Mark in the Isle of Man last week and I have never seen him so at peace and so relaxed.
This is his final Tour. He is level with Eddy Merckx in terms of the number of stages he has won (34) and he is going for that outright record.
He knows he can win at least a stage. He now has a lead-out man in Cees Bol and he has also brought in Mark Renshaw, his old lead-out man, as an analyst, who I think is going to be a huge support.
I definitely think he is going to win at least one stage and that is going to be historic and monumental.
TOM PIDCOCK (23, Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers)
Tom is racing his second Tour. Last year, he was riding in support of Geraint Thomas. This year he has the option of going for general classification, but he has said for a while he is not aiming to be a Tour winner yet.
I believe he will try to hunt down stages and that will be an absolute thrill to watch. He is so hungry and aggressive. It would be a shame to see him riding in a controlled way to get a GC position. I’d much rather see him on attack after attack.
Tom Pidcock is braced for his second Tour and may be an absolute thrill to watch this month
FRED WRIGHT (24, Great Britain, Team Bahrain Victorious)
Fred has just won the British road race national title, his first professional victory, and so will be wearing the British champion’s jersey on the roads of France.
He won the hearts of neutral fans last year with the way he raced and how much he gave to try and win each stage. So if he does get his first Tour stage win, it will be hugely popular.
There will also be a lot of emotion given the fact he recently lost his team-mate, Gino Mader, who tragically died at the Tour de Suisse.
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