Nibali: “Quintana is above my other rivals”

“I’m in a superb form”, Mark Cavendish warned ahead of the stages for sprinters. “I missed the racing a lot”, he added with regards to his crash last year on stage 1 in Harrogate. With already 25 stage wins under his belt, he’s not far away from the 28 that Bernard Hinault collected during his successful career. “I don’t come to the Tour de France to beat Hinault but I’d like to add more than one win to my record. As a team, we want to walk away with multiple stage wins but it doesn’t have to be me.” Etixx-Quick Step has different potential stage winners with Martin, world champion Michal Kwiatkowski or double stage winner Matteo Trentin indeed.
Diversity was highlighted by Orica-GreenEdge as well. Michael Matthews is their sprinter but he’s also more than a sprinter. “I had a lot of stress in the lead up to the race last year, that’s why I crashed and couldn’t start”, the rider from Canberra said. “This year I’ve done everything right. I won’t target the flat sprints against [André] Greipel and Cavendish but the hillier finishes that are more for the characteristics of our team.”
The Australian team had a brilliant ride two years ago but Simon Gerrans warned it will be a different one this time around: “Because of the long time trial to start with, the yellow jersey might be far out of my personal reach while last year it was a real goal after I got it in 2013. Chasing stage wins is a real goal and an achievable one.” But Orica won’t target GC. “I’m not physically and mentally ready for that”, Simon Yates admitted. “Give me a few more years and we’ll talk about it. In the first nine days, it’ll be easy to lose some time. Even if I wanted to do the overall, I wouldn’t be up there after the first week so I’ll save my legs until I get the opportunity to win a stage.”
The big four have attracted a lot of attention. “I’m more or less in the same shape as last year”, Vincenzo Nibali declared. “Some years I could have been happy with any place on the podium but being the defending champion, if we talk about Italian cyclists, we have to go as far back as to Ottavio Bottecchia (in the 1920’s) to find one of us to have won the Tour de France back to back. Among my rivals, I believe Nairo Quintana is above everyone else with Alberto Contador and Chris Froome just below.”
“I’m pleased with the course”, an optimistic Quintana noted. “It suits my characteristics. I’ve prepared for the complicated stages very well. My feeling is very different than two years ago. I was nervous at the time. This time, I am the leader of the team and I’m ready to handle the responsibilities.”
Froome found Contador “amazing” in his attempt to double up after winning the Giro. “It’ll be interesting to see how he pulls up in the third week”, said the winner of the 2013 Tour de France. “Those two races are part of my entire goal to win both this year”, the Spaniard echoed. “The big challenge will be for my body to follow my ambition.”
Froome appeared more relaxed than ever. “From a personal point of view, I start the Tour in perfect condition”, he explained. “This journey started when I crashed last year. We have the strongest team in the race. Not being the defending champion, I’ve everything to race for this year. It’s going to be the most contested Tour de France we have seen in recent years.”