He had hoped to ride this year’s Giro d’Italia, but was omitted from Movistar’s line-up as the Spanish team again packed their line-up with climbing domestiques, only for Quintana to lose the maglia rosa in the final day’s time trial.

He also missed last year’s race after requiring surgery, at a time when he insists he was otherwise at peak fitness.

The Essex rider is now expected to attempt to reclaim the UCI Hour Record later this year, having held it for a month before Sir Bradley Wiggins set the current benchmark in 2015.

Of the riders selected to support Quintana for the Tour, Valverde has pledged himself solely to the service of the Colombian, rather than target the GC himself.

Amador, who finished 18^th at the Giro d’Italia as he supported Quintana’s GC bid, will also be a key figure, having regularly got himself in breakaways at the Corsa Rosa before dropping back to support his team leader at the business end of the stages.

Erviti will ride his eighth consecutive Tour de France, while at the other end of the scale the 2017 edition will mark Betancur and Sutterlin’s debuts.