I always love the build up to the Tour de France each year. You can't beat the anticipation and excitement of the first few days of the race, it really compares to nothing else on the calendar. There are always so many interesting narratives to follow as the race gets going, long before any serious GC skirmishes unfold between the favourites for overall victory in Paris.
Ahead of the Grand Départ this year, the main discourse seems to be centred on whether or not the first week will even be worth watching. Friends, colleagues and social media users all seemed to be telling me the same thing: flat stage after flat stage after flat stage, what a snore fest. Fred Wright had heard the same views centred on the likely monotony of the opening parcours when I caught up with him last week. "I had the exact same initial thought as everyone else; I looked at the roadbook and thought there were a lot of flat, sprint type stages in the first ten days, but it really isn't like that,” he said.
