Vaughters predicts unpredictable Tour

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has put together a unique 21-stage parcours for this year's event, one that is sure to leave plenty of excitement for the final week.

Cyclingnews asked Garmin-Slipstream boss Jonathan Vaughters to give his views on how each stage might play out. The American knows the final climb of the Tour well, having won the stage atop Mont Ventoux in the Dauphine twice in 1999 and 2000.

Can he predict the future and see who will emerge victorious in Paris on July 26?

"It has been a year of surprises, comebacks, admissions and upsets in cycling," said Vaughters. "Perhaps one of the hardest to predict years in cycling I’ve seen in a while. So, trying to suss out who will do what in the Tour won't be easy for me, that’s for sure.

"As a rider I was never really good enough to analyze each stage, it was more a case of “hang on for dear life...sleep…repeat…” But now, I suppose I have a responsibility, for riders that are good enough to actually race the course, so here’s what I’ll be telling them to look for..."

"Vaughters' views" can be seen beginning with our stage one profile.