If the climbers are to make their mark at this year’s race, there will be plenty of opportunity to do so.

Three mountain ranges feature en route – the Vosges Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees – with the Planche des Belles Filles, Chamrousse, the Risoul, Saint-Lary-Soulan and the Hautacam all hosting summit finishes.

The Col d’Izoard, the Col du Tourmalet and Port de Bales are also included on a parcours littered with iconic Tour de France climbs.

Not even the absences of Mont Ventoux and l’Alpe d’Huez diminish a route which features 63 categorised climbs in total – more than a quarter of which (17) are category one or above.

Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome proved in 2012 just what success on the Planche des Belles Filles can do – Froome winning the stage and finishing second overall, while Wiggins took the yellow jersey and held it to the end.

Of course, it will take more than one climb to put enough time into the likes of Froome, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali to stop them earning it back and then some on the stage 20 time trial.

But with a tricky cobbled stage five and, indeed, a gruelling stage two from York to Sheffield – perhaps if a climber can stay in contention on those stages, it is not beyond reasonable thought to suggest Nairo Quintana will not be the only mountain man to win a Grand Tour this season.