Racing

Tour de France 2014: yellow jersey contenders

Chris Froome and Alberto Contador prepare for battle royale

The 101st Tour de France is just one day away and soon the first white rose-adorned yellow jersey of this year’s race will be presented at the conclusion of the first stage in Harrogate.

With the WorldTour’s elite fast men bidding to pull on the prestigious maillot jaune, it is set to be a tense first stage – but the battle for the top step of the final podium in Paris will be fiercer still.

Chris Froome pulled on the yellow jersey last year but faces the formidable challenge of an in-form Alberto Contador this time out (pic: Sirotti)

Defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), currently ranked number one in the world, start as favourites.

But Criterium du Dauphine winner Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) has proved the two can be beaten, and a host of other contenders – Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) will certainly be hoping that is the case.

We have already looked at the men set to fight it out to top the points classification, mountains classification and young riders’ classification.

Now, read on for our views on the men bidding to top the general classification of the 101st Tour de France.