Quick-Step strength gives Fernando Gaviria the edge on stage one

Tour de France stage one
ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 10am Saturday

The 105th Tour de France begins with a stroll along the Vendee coastline but with crosswinds forecast, it will not the be the relaxed opening many riders will have hoped for.

The general classification contenders would have preferred to leave the racing to the sprinters’ teams for at least the first few days but the prospect of blustery conditions means that everyone will need to be on high alert from the off.

More than half of the 201km route from Noirmoutier-en-L’Ile to Fontenay-le-Comte takes place on coastal roads and if the winds see echelons forming on the road there could be early time gaps in the race for the yellow jersey.

That said, the first holder of the maillot jaune should be a sprinter with the fast men eager to strut their stuff on the flatter terrains before the route heads skywards in the middle of the second week.

Such a pan-flat stage was once the feeding ground of Britain’s Mark Cavendish, who heads to the 2018 Tour with 30 stage wins to his name – four short of the mark set by legend Eddy Merckx.

Injuries have affected the Manx Missile’s season, however, and he, alongside long-time foe Marcel Kittel, looks vulnerable to a new breed of sprinters.

One of the factors in Quick-Step Floors’ decision to allow Kittel to leave the Belgian squad at the end of 2017 was the emergence of Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria, who arrives at his first Tour as the quickest man in the peloton.

He has yet to win a stage in Europe this season but he won the points classification and three stages at the Tour of California in May and claimed three stage wins at Colombia Oro y Paz.

Some critics see the fact that it will be his first Tour appearance as a negative but it didn’t stop him at last year’s Giro d’Italia where he won four stages on his way to winning the points jersey at his first Grand Tour.

The Colombian can perhaps also claim to have the best lead-out train, who helped Italian sprinter Elia Viviani to win this year’s Giro points classification, at his disposal.

If he’s in the mix at the finish he will be extremely tough to pass.

Recommendation
F Gaviria to win stage one
2pts 11-4 Betway

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