Cycling can be the cruellest mistress – or indeed master – and never was that better demonstrated than by the topsy-turvy early season experienced by some of the biggest favourties on the 2024 Tour de France start list.
There was a crash taking three out at once to varying degrees in April; there was a Grand Tour that went superbly for one of them but left us wondering how it would affect his July form – and then of course there are the guys outside the much-talked about 'Big Four', who could be feeling glad, or resentful, that it's not at least a 'Big Five' or 'Big Six'.
