Who’s going to win the Tour de France? (POLL)

This year’s Tour de France sees four main contenders vying for the title, Chris Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo_ and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and this year’s race could prove to be the most intriguing in years. But who do you think is going to win?

Chris Froome
The Briton is favourite to win the race, having recently claimed victory in Critérium du Dauphiné in an exciting final stage. Prior to that, he had finished in third place in the Tour de Romandie. Froome dominated the race in 2013, but crashed out on Stage 5 last year. He has a very strong team who can help him get through the difficult fourth stage to Cambrai, but he doesn’t look as dominant as he did two years ago.

Nairo Quintana
The diminutive Colombian has been in good but not spectacular form this season. He won Tirreno-Adriatico earlier in the season and has taken top tens in the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco and Tour de Romandie as well as 2nd in the Route du Sud. However, what makes him second favourite is the difficulty that Froome had in shaking him off in the Tour two years ago, as well as his dominant victory in the Giro last year. Could he become the first Colombian to win the Tour de France?

Alberto Contador
Contador is the most experienced of all of the main contenders, and has won all three Grand Tours during his career. He can climb, he can time trial, but there’s a big question mark about fatigue. Contador has already taken part in and won the Giro d’Italia this season, and achieving the Giro-Tour double is a big ask. It has been done a number of times before, but not since 1998 when Marco Pantani won both races. Contador has been racing since the Giro, when he won the Route du Sud. However, the four-day Pyrenean race is not the Tour de France. The final week could be particularly difficult for the Spaniard.

Vincenzo Nibali
Last year’s winner returns to defend his title in good form, having won the Italian Championships at the weekend. Like Contador, Nibali has won all three Grand Tours in his career, so has the experience. What also stands in his favour is the stage over the cobbles of Roubaix. Nibali had an extraordinary performance on the equivalent stage last year, putting time into all of his rivals. If he can do the same again this year, it will significantly improve his chances of winning overall.

The Others
The four riders mentioned above are considered to be the big favourites for the race, but could somebody else pull a big surprise? It’s interesting to note that the two other riders who finished on the podium last year, Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) are not considered amongst the favourites to win overall. Peraud finished over seven minutes behind Nibali and at 38 years-old, a top ten might be as good as it gets. He did win Critérium International earlier this year, but that’s his only result of note.

Pinot meanwhile is France’s big hope to become their first Tour winner since Bernard Hinault. However, despite winning the difficult Tour de Suisse stage to Sölden/Rettenbachgletscher, it’s difficult to see him being much of a danger in the Tour. Another rider to look out for is Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing). The American was fifth last year, and came close to winning the Critérium du Dauphine recently.

Vote below on who you think is going to win the 2015 Tour de France. If you think it’s going to be somebody outside the top four, please let us know who you think in the comments section.