Last year’s Tour de France saw Vincenzo Nibali pull on the yellow jersey as early as stage two, after he won solo in Sheffield, and the Astana man wore it every day except one from then until Paris.

And, while his victory last year included stage wins in both the Alps and Pyrenees, Kelly believes The Shark could struggle if he doesn’t have a lead to defend there.

With Quintana, Froome and Contador better climbers, in the Irishman’s opinions, it will be game on in the Pyrenees if they have cut their losses in the opening week.

“I think Nibali will have a bit more of a difficult time if he doesn’t take advantage early on,” he predicted. “Because the other three big favourites are going to come into it, where they can take advantage on the mountain stages.

“When we get into the Pyrenees, that is where they will really look to put Nibali under pressure. These guys will be looking to come out of the first five days with no time loss.”

“I think it will be the four of them contesting the win. It’s difficult to see anybody outside of those four winning but there are other riders who could make the podium – Tejay van Garderen, for example, or Andrew Talansky.

“Alejandro Valverde, too, is always there or thereabouts. He could make it onto a step of the podium too.”