Friday, 5 July 2019:
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE 106th TOUR DE FRANCE
* Le Tour is one of cycling's three Grand Tours. It spends the opening three days in Belgium, mainly to honour the legendary Eddy Merckx, and then goes into France.
* 21 stages, total distance 3460km
* THE KEY STAGES
Stage one, July 6 - Brussels to Brussels, 194.5km. Can sprint ace Caleb Ewan have a dream Tour debut by winning the opening stage and becoming the eighth Australian to wear the famed yellow jersey as race leader?
Stage six, July 11 - Mulhouse to La Planche Des Belles Filles, 160.5km. The first summit finish. Organisers have made the steep finish even harder with an extra kilometre. An early look at who can win the Tour.
Stage nine, July 14 - Saint-Etienne to Brioude, 170.5km. Not the biggest of stages, but very big for top Australian hope Richie Porte. He's crashed out of the Tour in stage nine for the last two years.
Stage 13, July 19 - Pau to Pau, 27.2km. Individual time trials are not the most thrilling, but Australian Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) is the stage favourite.
Stage 14, July 20 - Tarbes to Tourmalet Bareges, 117.5km. The Tourmalet is an iconic Tour climb and this will be a pivotal day in the Pyrenees.
Stages 18 to 20, July 25-27. Three consecutive days of climbing hell in the Alps. Stage 18 features the famed Galibier climb and the next two days are summit finishes.
RIDERS TO WATCH
OVERALL
* Four-time champion Chris Froome and last year's runner-up Tom Dumoulin are out because of injury and the hope is that their absence will mean a more open Tour. Don't count on it. Team Ineos - formerly Team Sky - remain powerful without Froome and they could dominate again.
* Defending champion Geraint Thomas (GBR) will lead Ineos, with young Colombian sensation Egan Bernal his main lieutenant.
* Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) is the top Australian chance, but he's 34 and his season has been cruelled by illness. He also needs to overcome a rotten run of luck at the Tour.
* British rider Adam Yates will lead the Australian Mitchelton-Scott team, with twin brother Simon as his top lieutenant.
* Bernard Hinault was the last French winner in 1985. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) are the top local hopes.
* Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida), The Shark Of Messina, is the only Tour champion outside Team Sky/Ineos since Cadel Evans' 2011 triumph.
* Also watch for Jakob Fuglsang (DEN, Astana), the Movistar duo of Nairo Quintana (COL) and Mikel Landa (ESP) and Colombian Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First).
SPRINTERS
* Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) finally makes his Tour debut. He's in good form, winning two stages at the Giro d'Italia.
* Slovakian Peter Sagan has had quiet season so far, but no-one would dare write off the three-time world champion and six-time Tour green jersey winner.
* Dylan Groenewegen (NED, Jumbo-Visma) and Italian ace Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) also will feature in the bunch sprints.
* Australian Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) is more of an all-rounder. He won the Tour green jersey classification two years ago.
AUSTRALIAN STARTERS
Porte, Ewan, Dennis, Matthews
Simon Clarke (EF Education First)
Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn and Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott)
AUSTRALIANS IN THE TOUR YELLOW JERSEY
* Phil Anderson 1981-82
* Stuart O'Grady '98, 2001
* Bradley McGee '03
* Robbie McEwen '04
* Cadel Evans '08 '10, '11
* Simon Gerrans '13
* Rohan Dennis '15
AUSTRALIAN JERSEY WINNERS
* Cadel Evans, 2011 champion
* Anderson, white jersey (young rider) 1982
* McEwen, green jersey (points classification) '02, 04, '06
* Baden Cooke, green jersey '03
* Matthews, green jersey '17
