Having seen his Giro d’Italia hopes abruptly ended by the huge stage six crash, which ruled him out of the rest of the race, Joaquim Rodriguez is to be afforded a free rein at the Tour.

With his fitness and ability to challenge for GC unknown, he is more likely to be targeting stage wins on the prestigious summit finishes – and the diminutive Spaniard is more than capable of achieving them.

Racking up the points on the summit finishes means he will score big when it comes to the mountains classification, and with no commitments to the team there will be nothing stopping him complementing his tally en route.

He chose the Giro over the Tour because of a route better suited to him, but the Tour still provides plenty of opportunity to make his mark. However, Purito’s crash at the Giro will have taken a lot of out of him.

A stage win or two is certainly not beyond him, but whether he has the legs to do so across the three weeks remains to be seen.