LE MONT-SAINT-MICHEL: Reigning champion Chris Froome says this year's Tour de France is made for the specialist climbers, but it begins on Saturday with a flat stage favouring sprinters.
Saturday's 'Grand Depart' takes place at the picturesque tourist resort of Mont Saint-Michel, before finishing 188km later at Utah Beach, made famous as one of the main sites of the Normandy Landings during World War II.
One of the big favourites for the opening stage is German sprint king Marcel Kittel, back at the Tour after a one-year injury and illness induced hiatus.
Having won the opening stage in 2013 and 2014, Kittel is gunning for a hat-trick, but he knows it will be tough.
"The last kilometres will be nervous and fast: downhill, straight forward and with no corners. You need a good position, but also to be lucky," he said.
The other main favourite is his countryman Andre Greipel, who won four stages last year in Kittel's absence.
Neither Englishman Mark Cavendish, who is third on the all-time list of Tour stage wins with 26, nor world champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia can be discounted.
A breakaway group will likely animate the first stage, but the sprinters' teams will never let them far off the leash and will take no chances in reeling them before setting up a fast, furious and perhaps manic bunch finish.
Two years ago, Cavendish crashed in just such a mass sprint, breaking his collarbone and being forced out of the Tour.
It will take a week for the first true test of the overall contenders to arrive on the seventh stage from l'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle.
From there on there will be four summit finishes, seven hors category climbs and 14 first category ones.
"The route this year is very much a climber-based route in terms of even the two time-trials we have: one is straight uphill and the other one has two long climbs on it," reflected Froome.
"Even though we have time-trials, they're time-trials where a climber will do well."
He added: "It's very much a climber's Tour de France this year."
Many people believe the overall battle will turn out to be a two-way struggle between Froome and Colombian Nairo Quintana, who finished second to the Briton in both 2013 and last year.
But Quintana is wary of other threats.
"I have to keep focused not only on the big favourites like Froome and (Alberto) Contador but also dangerous riders such as (Thibaut) Pinot and (Fabio) Aru, who've already proved to be tough rivals."
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