{"id":165726,"date":"2018-07-05T07:09:04","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T07:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=165726"},"modified":"2018-07-05T07:09:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T07:09:04","slug":"who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Chris Froome<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Team Sky\u2019s directors have a proven track record when it comes to tactical thinking. Team Sky expect discipline from their domestiques and Froome has consistently found himself in the right place at the right time. See stage 19 of this year\u2019s Giro, for example.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Giro d&#039;Italia 2018 | Stage 19 Highlights | inCycle\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9USGFIF2UWc?start=84&#038;feature=oembed&#038;t=1m24s&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>Team Sky deliver Froome to the front before he drops the hammer<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, 2018 is big for Team Sky and Froome. This is his chance to join Indurain, Hinault, Merckx, and Anquetil in the Club de Cinq Victoires.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Vincenzo Nibali<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bahrain-Merida removed Nibali from this year\u2019s Giro, wanting him fresh for Le Tour. One stage sees the peloton heading into Roubaix, and I\u2019m sure this has given Froome reason to meditate on his disastrous 2014 effort to defend his title.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=fFJDkXZ3Lr4 params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/fFJDkXZ3Lr4\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Nibali wins Stage 2 before going on to take Le Tour GC in 2014<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Nibali\u2019s early assertions appeared to rattle Froome into taking risks that would be considered uncharacteristic if he was to take them now. But, that said, Nibali\u2019s presence will be a serious concern for Froome. And Bahrain-Merida\u2019s singular focus will draw Team Sky\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Tom Dumoulin and Richie Porte<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The bookies have given Dumoulin slightly better odds than Porte, most likely because his superb Giro win in 2017 proved he rises to big occasions. In contrast, Porte\u2019s form was disappointing since leaving Team Sky until he won the 2017 Tour de Romandie \u2013 much to BMC\u2019s relief, no doubt.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=pKUHfs79rcs params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/pKUHfs79rcs\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Porte\u2019s impressive show of strength a clear signal he is fit for Le Tour<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sadly, Porte\u2019s horrific crash in Le Tour 2017 put an end to what could have been a serious attempt on the yellow jersey. But since then, Porte\u2019s staged an epic recovery and won the Tour de Suisse earlier this season. Let\u2019s hope Porte brings that fighting spirit to this year\u2019s tour.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>El C\u00f3ndor de los Andes, also known as Quintana, had a muted 2017. Other than winning a few stages here and there he disappeared under the radar. Movistar seemed incapable of providing the support needed to win a grand tour, even with Valverde\u2019s more than capable support.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t0ONKLiiozw&#038;feature=youtu.be&#038;t=13m41s<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>Is Landa the best climber in the world right now?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This year, Mikel Landa joins Movistar. The same age as Quintana, Landa is more than just a wingman &#8211; he was joint race leader with Geraint Thomas in Team Sky\u2019s 2017 Giro effort. Like Porte, Landa is an incredibly capable racer, but Team Sky has a deep pool of talent. Speaking of which\u2026<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Geraint Thomas<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Finally, don\u2019t rule out a curveball from Team Sky. Geraint Thomas has been announced as joint race-leader. This looks like succession planning.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=07e_uXhRRm4 params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/07e_uXhRRm4\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">More than just a lieutenant\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thomas had a blinding Dauphin\u00e9, and in any other team that would make him the favourite to take the top spot on the podium in Paris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":160598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[425,1080,794,494,773,845,2080,829,433,2064,426],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-165726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-chris-froome","tag-geraint-thomas","tag-mikel-landa","tag-nairo-quintana","tag-richie-porte","tag-tdf","tag-tdf-2018","tag-tom-dumoulin","tag-tour-de-france","tag-tour-de-france-2018","tag-vincenzo-nibali"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-05T07:09:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1178\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"785\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"WeLoveCycling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/\",\"name\":\"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-05T07:09:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp\",\"width\":1178,\"height\":785},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France?","og_description":"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2018-07-05T07:09:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1178,"height":785,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"WeLoveCycling","Est. reading time":"7"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/","name":"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp","datePublished":"2018-07-05T07:09:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"With Le Tour nearly upon us, we look at some of the strongest contenders for the General Classification\u2019s Yellow Jersey. Chris Froome Team Sky\u2019s directors","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/profimedia-0342786101jpg.webp","width":1178,"height":785},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/05\/who-will-win-the-2018-tour-de-france\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who Will Win the 2018 Tour de France?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165734,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165726\/revisions\/165734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165726"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=165726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}