Italian Vincenzo Nibali was flanked by Frenchmen Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot on the 2014 Tour de France podium.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Bradley Wiggins Tour de France winner in 2012
The final stage of the Tour de France takes place on the Champs-Élysées(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Just over three weeks remain until the Tour de France gets underway in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The riders will take on 3358.3 kilometres before they reach the finish line in Paris on July 26.
The race includes just 41.8 kilometres of time trialling, putting the emphasis on the very mountainous final week. There are several stages that could trip up some of the title hopefuls including stage 3 through the Ardennes and the following day over the cobbles.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) returns as the defending champion, with former victors Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) looking to take the title off his hands. Other contenders include Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Frenchmen Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr).
Are you new to cycling or need to refresh your knowledge of the Tour? Then watch our Beginner’s Guide to the 2015 Tour de France.
To subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
