Cycling: Four favourites for world's greatest race

Britain's Chris Froome passes world heritage site Mont-Saint-Michel. Photo / AP

This year the Tour de France reads paradoxically as both hell on Earth and a climber's paradise.

Sweat and grit are the watchwords and the race won by the rider angry enough to attack the fiercest slopes. Historic Pyrenean peaks such as the Col du Tourmalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde personify the romance of the greatest cycling race, but will also strike fear into the hearts of the men daring to set wheel on them.

From the backbreaking and machine shattering cobblestones in stage four to the windswept, rock-hard landscape of Brittany, all the way to the 21 switchbacks of the infamous Alpe d'Huez on the penultimate stage, there is nowhere to hide at any time, anywhere.

Realistically, there are four favourites to pull on the yellow jersey in Paris, and a few pretenders:

The Favourites

Chris Froome: Tore the field apart to win in 2013, then crashed out in the early stages in 2014. Despite early-season sickness and injury, he has beaten all his main rivals this year: Alberto Contador in the Ruta del Sol, Nairo Quintana in the Tour de Romandie and Vincenzo Nibali in the Criterium du Dauphin. He leads a team full of talent, dedicated to nursing him to glory. Froome may have all the grace of a seven-legged spider but his riding style is nothing but effective and, if he stays on his bike, must be the man to beat.

Alberto Contador: Contador is to cycling what his compatriot Rafael Nadal is to tennis. A two-time winner of the yellow jersey, his stated intention is to win both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, a feat achieved by only seven riders. With the Italian title already, Contador can launch himself at the Tour de France with a degree of comfort his three main rivals will not have. He scales the mountains like a salsa dancer.

Nairo Quintana: The 25-year-old Columbian has swept all before him in his still-short professional cycling career. He finished second in his first Tour in 2013 and won the Giro d'Italia on his first attempt in 2014. Weighing in at 58kg, Quintana skipped last year's Tour but is ready to set the mountains on fire with his blistering and repeated attacks.

Vincenzo Nibali: In 2014, Froome and Contador crashed out early and Nibali practically cruised to victory. Nibali has had a very quiet build-up to this year's Tour and is typically playing his cards close to his chest. He rode the Criterium du Dauphin along with Froome but used it more as a training camp than a race.

The Dark Horses

Tejay Van Garderen: One of three Americans in the Tour, he is your typical all rounder, strong in the mountains, fast on the flat and punchy in rolling terrain. Fifth last year.

Joaquim Rodriguez: Podium finishes in all three Grand Tours. He was crowned champion at the Tour of the Basque country this year - a race which always sees the toughest rider come out on top.

Thibaut Pinot: The pressure of French hopes and dreams is on his young shoulders.

Although the mountains take star billing this year, there is something for everyone. In the course of the nine sprint and three rolling hill stages, Etixx-QuickStep's Mark Cavendish and Lotto-Soudal's Andre Greipel (led out by New Zealand's Greg Henderson) will be hoping to wrest the green sprinter's jersey from Peter Sagan who has won it for the past three years.