Tour de France 2015: yellow jersey favourites

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Tour de France 2015: yellow jersey favourites – form guide

Froome, Contador, Quintana and Nibali to go wheel-to-wheel for first time in a Grand Tour

Fantastic Four

  • Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali will wear dossard number one, while 2013 winner Chris Froome is one of ten Brits selected (pic: Sirotti)

  • Vincenzo Nibali, Tour de France 2014, stage 21, podium, Paris, pic: ©Sirotti

    Vincenzo Nibali will return to the Tour de France as defending champion but he'll face stiff competition from Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana (Pic: Sirotti)

  • Chris Froome, Tour de France 2013, stage 21, Paris, podium, pic: ©Sirotti

    Chris Froome celebrates victory on the Paris podium in 2013 (pic: Sirotti)

  • Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo, pink jersey, salute, Milan, pic: Sirotti

    Alberto Contador sealed victory at the Giro d'Italia to make it back-to-back Grand Tour wins (pic: Sirotti)

  • Tour de France 2013, Champs-Elysees (Credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

    Quintana's second place finish in 2013 earned the Colombian the white jersey for best young rider (Credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWPix.com)

  • Joaquim Rodriguez, Katusha, Mur de Huy, 2015, La Fleche Wallonne, tired, pic: Sirotti

    Joaquim Rodriguez has been written off by some but remains a top Grand Tour contender, proving himself on the Mur de Huy (Pic: Sirotti)

  • Tejay van Garderen, yellow jersey, Criterium du Dauphine, 2015, pic: X.Bourgois/ASO

    Tejay van Garderen wore the yellow jersey at the Dauphine, but eventually cracked in the face of Chris Froome's relentless pressure (pic: X.Bourgois/ASO)

  • Thibaut Pinot was the best young rider at last year's Tour de France (Pic: Sirotti)

Fantastic Four

The battle for the maillot jaune could be the fiercest ever at this year’s Tour de France with four of the finest Grand Tour riders of this generation going wheel-to-wheel.

Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), 2013 winner Chris Froome (Team Sky), reigning Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia champion Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and 2013 runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) headline the list of contenders.

With a potentially hazardous route to contend with, even before they reach the high mountains, the racing will be on from the start, starting with the chance to eke out a few seconds and a moral victory on the stage one time trial in Utrecht on Saturday July 4.

But what can we expect in the three weeks which follow? And can anybody else break up the leading foursome?

We’ve taken a closer look at the form book over the following pages.

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