It's only appropriate to start off with the reigning champions of Gazelle. Angel Madrazo is back again and once more, he's the strongest pure climber in the field. His entire skillset is elite and in the last year before his regression, he has the opportunity to achieve two historic feats at once: become the first back-to-back Tour de France winner, and the first rider to win the race three times.

Similar to last year, Madrazo has a solid squad to support him, with Denis Karnulin as his main lieutenant, decent depth and good time trialists for the TTT. However, after a disappointing season so far, he really has to step up his game if he wants to claim yellow again. The top spot in this list is his to a good extent by virtue of last year’s title, for his main challenger is not only stronger in a few key stats - he has also beaten the Spaniard handily in every single race this year, as well as the last time they rode a GT together.

That challenger is none other than Silvio Herklotz. Coming fresh of a dominant victory at the Tour de Suisse, against among others Angel Madrazo, he has his eyes set on the yellow jersey in his maiden Tour de France, and I’m sure anything but the top step on the Champs Élysées would count as a disappointment.

Herklotz excells with his great puncheur skills coupled with strong acceleration and fighting spirit. That combination has led to him taking stage win after stage win in the past. While Madrazo may be the better pure climber and has Herklotz beat in stamina and recovery, there’s no match for the German in high-intensity situations, and the route has more punchy finishes than last year to suit him.

Puma also brings a good team to support him, with two strong mountain domestiques and the rest of the squad geared towards the team time trial (Sütterlin will also target the opening ITT and both Ganna and Cavagna have a good chance to wear white after it). Despite Madrazo’s presence, I think many will see Silvio Herklotz as the man to beat.

One man who actually has experience with beating Herklotz in a GT is Simon Spilak. He did so as recently as last year’s Giro d’Italia. However, age has continued to take a toll on him and a repeat would certainly be a surprise. That said, surprises happen often enough and at the very least, Spilak is here to redeem himself for a dismal showing at this year’s Giro.

As the best pure hills rider of the favorites, the route suits him and he’s still an elite climber. Generali’s mountain support is not super impressive - though still decent -, but they brought one of the best TTT squads, which should leave him in a favorable position heading into the Pyrenees. And then, who knows what’s possible? The podium will be the goal at the very least.

Speaking of podiums: Joe Dombrowski is all too familiar with those. Finishing second in his last three GTs, including here last year, as well as in two additional races this year, he's very much ready to take the final step up. But is this the time? Madrazo beat him handily the last time around and the competition has gotten even stiffer.

But Dombrowski should not lose heart before the race has even started. He's still a Top 3-5 climber, one of the quickest as well which should do him well on this route. And with Aru and Brambilla, he has two of the top mountain domestiques. A few things breaking right here and there, and why shouldn't he be in the mix for yellow until the very end?

Interestingly, eBuddy is one of the few teams with top GC contenders who also bring a sprinter in Van Poppel. We'll get to the other sprinters as we go along, and also have a concise look at all of them in the general overview later on.

To complete last year's podium, Lachlan Morton has found his way back to France as well. He's been stellar all season, beating Madrazo and Herklotz in Liechtenstein (one place behind Dombrowski, by the way) and coming third to both of them recently in the Tour de Suisse.

In a similar boat as the American, Morton aims to repeat his podium place with one eye on an even better result. He's a fantastic climber, good on hills, with elite secondary stats. His lack of acceleration may hurt him, although he did just fine when he won the first mountain stage last year. Power (who is also eligible for the white jersey competition) should be a good lieutenant in the mountains as well. It's going to be a tough race, but a lot is possible for Morton.

"A lot is possible" fits few riders better than Romain Sicard. The home crowd's best hope for a good result, he can't keep up with the other top contenders in the high mountains, but he's aggressive and the increase in hilly stages should help him as much as anybody. In addition, his elite recovery could come into play more than last year, with the concentration of tough stages in the second half of the race.

In the final year of his prime, this is likely his last best shot at the Grand Tour podium that has eluded him so far. He's shown his capabilities more than once this season even against some of the other top contenders here and the route may suit him well, but the competition is still tough and his steady decline in the mountains last year after taking yellow early doesn't inspire a ton of confidence. As I said: a lot is possible.

There is, in my opinion, a pretty marked dropoff from the Top 6 to the next group of 6-8 GC contenders, who could fill the back half of the Top 10 and the first Top 15 spots in basically any order. But if one man stands out, it’s probably José Alarcon with his elite climbing, his Grand Tour resumee and solid results all year. Plus, Richard Carapaz serves as one of the best mountain domestiques.

Volvo, however, is also the team of one of the absolute top sprinters of the race. The sprinting field is much stronger this year, which we'll get to, but be assured that Jonas Ahlstrand will certainly want to add to his single Tour stage win from two years ago, and he will have good chances to do so.

But first, we continue with the GC contenders. Daan Olivier is among the best puncheurs and has the best resistance among this second tier of contenders. He's been consistent all season but lacked the stand-out result until scoring a fifth place at the Dauphiné a few weeks ago. After Top 10s in the Giro and Vuelta, he aims to complete the Top 10 treble at the Tour. It's certainly within reach, especially with a strong team (though lacking in the TTT department) behind him, including Zardini and Valls, who might feature in mountain breakaways too, as well as veteran and 8 time stage winner Dekker. But as I mentioned, the field is just very close in this rance.

Warren Barguil had his best GT result yet at this year's Giro and he confirmed his good shape with a sixth place at the Dauphiné. He's a very similar rider to Olivier, slightly worse hill and resistance stats, but better in recovery and he's one of the quickest of the contenders. He finished twice in the Top 10 already, though at times due to breakaways late in the race, and he will try his best to continue that streak.

With Schlegl (an outside white jersey contender) and Prado, Moser have decent mountain domestiques, and they also bring Gregory Soupe as an option for bunch sprints as well as a few strong time trialists to support Barguil in the TTT. Hepburn may also have his eyes set on the opening ITT.

Nairo Quintana can claim to be a better pure climber than the two listed above, but slightly worse backup stats and mainly a lack of acceleration combined with comparatively subpar puncheur qualities have him slipping down a few spots. Quintana has yet to have his breakout Grand Tour performance and while still well in his prime, he's not getting any younger.

Rakuten do their best to support him, the trio of Kratochvila, Costagli and Iino ranks high on the list of mountain squads - plus, they could also feature prominently in breakaways. Similar to his competitors, a wide range of outcomes is possible for Quintana, from fighting for a Top 5 spot to not even making the Top 10.

Fredrik Strand Galta is a unique case. His non-GT results this year are pretty poor, but he seems to turn it up a notch in Grand Tours. After two Top 10 results in the previous Tours, similar to Barguil at least in part fueled by well-timed successful breakaways, he scored another Top 10 in this year's Vuelta.

He will likely have to rely on his sense of opportunity again this time around, as - like Quintana - the more punchy elements of the route don't suit him, and - unlike Quintana - he does not have much of a team to support him in the mountains. Instead, the Aker squad looks made for breakaways, with guys like Vangstad, Trondsen or Yzeiraj, who wore the polkadots for two days last year.

One of two Wild Card teams, Azteca comes to Le Tour with actual GC ambitions - and an intriguing squad behind them. Ryan Eastman has been a consistent top rider in the continental circuit so far this season and his only excursion to WT levels at the Dauphiné turned out to be pretty successful. He's a strong climber, but has to hope that he can limit his losses in the hills.

On the other hand, Azteca actually has one of the more fearsome puncheurs of the entire race. Chaves will certainly be a force to be reckoned with. In addition, there are quite a few potential breakaway riders in this squad, as well as a longshot sprinting hope in Tivani. While nothing is guaranteed, Azteca has all the tools to feature prominently throughout the race.

A rider without any GT experience and with kind of a unique skill set, Louis Meintjes is tough to project. His strength on the hills is rivaled only by the likes of Spilak, Herklotz or Sicard, but he lacks the strong acceleration to complement it. His high recovery should help him greatly, but as a pure climber, he can't compete with the best.

He also lacks basically any team support in the mountains. Instead, cycleYorkshire also invests ressources in the sprint department with Enger and Cullaigh, and especially in the time trial department, where Durbridge is not only among the top favorites for the opening stage, but the team as a whole is well capable of fighting for the stage win in the TTT - which in turn might give Meintjes a well-needed boost before the mountains really begin.

As we move further down the list of GC contenders, we get to the riders for which the Top 10 would less be an expected result and more of a positive surprise. Primoz Roglic is such a case. A similar rider to Meintjes, he is slightly worse in key stats like hill, stamina and recovery, and he is also the first GC contender where we have to mention the TTT squad as a serious weakness. Possibly to the dismay of Evonik, Isostar is a strong contender for last place in the TTT, potentially costing Roglic north of two minutes.

But the way this team is set up, the hope might be to have riders in every breakaway possible, Roglic included later on, maybe to gain a few spots in the GC that way. Novak and Roman are also in the mix for some U25 points and Calmejane is one of the premier breakaway riders on hilly terrain.

ISA - Hexacta bring a very strong climbing squad here, but like his domestiques Ji, Campero and Affonso, leader Natnael Berhane is lacking good-to-great resistance and recovery stats, which could see him suffer especially later on. He has the potential to ride with the best, at least the best of the non-Top 6 contenders, as he showed in Liechtenstein, but the Top 15 results he's scored otherwise feel like a better range of outcomes for him here.

ISA don't put all their eggs in the mountain basket though, as they have capable breakaway riders for other terrains in Zakarin, Feng and to a lesser extent Dlamini, as well as Santos, whose strong flat stat could make up for his lower speed in sprints.

Team UBS come to France with a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, Patrick Schelling will lead their GC campaign. He's proven to be capable of Top 15s in Grand Tours before and his results so far inspire confidence. He's got decent puncheur skills and good resistance to complement it, eventhough he's not the greatest climber.

He will, however, be greatly aided by the second focus of the team: its great time trialing strength. Dillier is one of the main contenders for the opening time trial and has his eyes set on the yellow jersey, while the squad as a whole is certainly capable of taking the TTT if things break right.

EA Vesuvio bring one of the more fascinating and versatile teams to the Tour. For one, there's obviously Andy Schleck, the GT titan of years past, at one point going five GTs unbeaten. But his recent string of results point to a pretty steep cliff that he has fallen off of as the effects of age have started to become apparent. But Schleck is not the only, not even the primary potential point scorer for this team. Godoy, for one, is the runaway favorite for the white jersey and Goos should be a threat in any mountain breakaway.

And then there's the fierce sprinting duo of Van der Lijke and Holloway. The former is one of the best punchy sprinters, and considering the hills in the first few stages, he could be in for a big haul of points. He has to do better than last year though, when he scored only a single stage podium. Holloway on the other hand, while not per se the fastest, has been on an absolute tear this year, scoring three stage wins in the Tour de Suisse as just the most recent example.

It should be interesting to see how this dynamic shakes out - will they help each other and, together with Reimer, form the most threatening sprint train of the race? Or is it every man for himself?

With the main GC contenders out the way and two of the main sprinters in focus, this is also a good time to transition to the other top sprint contenders. As you may recall, in addition to the EA duo, we've seen Enger of cycleYorkshire and Van Poppel of eBuddy as solid sprinters, but the headliner so far is clearly Jonas Ahlstrand. Let's introduce his biggest rival:

Michael Van Stayen is by far the most accomplished Grand Tour sprinter of this field, with stage wins in six different years dating back all the way to 2011. As not only the man with the highest end speed but also one of the, if not the best puncheur, he has to be considered as a major favorite for basically 8 of the first 9 stages. In a similar vein as Arnaud Demare last year, he is also the easy choice for any green jersey bet.

Evonik give him Dzamastagic, one of the best leadout men out there, and Stoltz as support, the latter also being an option for flat attacks. But they spread their resources a bit by also bringing Chiarello and a few decent climbers. The Brazilian finished 7th in both this year's Giro and Dauphiné, so he certainly has a shot to play a role in the GC fight. But the success of this Tour for Evonik ultimately rests on Van Stayens shoulders.

The second wild card team Swisslion are all-in on the sprints. Lahcen Saber is their best bet to any sort of success, supported by Marin and Poljanec - because really, there's not much behind those three. But with one of the best flats among the sprinters, decent resistance and recovery and good all around speed, Saber is certainly capable of strong results. Swisslion are a surefire bet for last place in the teams competition, but at the end of the day, if Saber can add another GT stage win to his resumee, the race will have been a success, regardless of anything else.