Much like the appearance of mince pies on supermarket shelves, it seems that races that are nominally Tour de France warm-ups get earlier every year. Even with this preparation creep, I cannot remember a year when any race before Opening Weekend had the eyes of the world on it, viewed through the lens of La Grand Boucle.
The Tour this year starts with a team time trial, a format that according to Alex Dowsett, Performance Engineer at XDS Astana, has been on the decline for the last half decade. Choosing to open the biggest race of the year with this underutilised discipline, rather than slotting it at, say, the end of the first week, allows teams the chance to bid for the coveted yellow jersey immediately, and as such there has been renewed focus from many teams on specific preparations.
