Follow live text coverage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France
Bardet wins first stage; Cavendish trying to make time limit after suffering in heat
The Grand Depart takes place in Italy for the first time
Stage one: Florence - Rimini, 206km
Reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard and fellow two-time winner Tadej Pogacar both included in the 176-man start list
There's nothing quite like this extraordinary race. The colour, fans, landscapes, joy, despair and glory.
It's going to be absolutely superb.
As I write that the second part of the Grand Depart, takes in a stop at the Palazzo Vecchio.
Image source, Getty ImagesTwo-time winner Jonas Vingegaard has openly said he would have liked another three weeks or so to prepare for his defence of the Tour de France.
It is going to be intriguing to see what sort of shape he is in?
A harrowing crash while competing in April in northern Spain had put the Dane's participation in serious doubt. The 27-year-old is in Florence, Italy, for the Grand Depart, but has not raced since his accident.
After colliding with rocks at high speed, Vingegaard’s injuries from the crash at the Itzulia Basque country were significant – fractured ribs, a broken collarbone and a collapsed and bruised lung.
Around 12 months ago Tadej Pogacar, likely to be his main rival for the Tour (again) came into the race having missed a significant block of training himself and looked well under cooked as he was well beaten.
However, despite having recently had covid, he reckons he's in his best shape ever on a bike. A rather ominous bit of news for the rest of the peloton.
Oh and don't forget that Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel are also expected to be in the mix.
An absolutely intriguing battle for yellow coming up.
The peloton is rolling out through the streets of central Florence.
They will cover around 16km in a neutralised zone before the flag drop and racing gets under way.
Image source, ASOFlorence is well known for being the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and it's art and culture.
But today it is playing host to the Tour as the Grand Depart takes place in Italy for the first time.
As the peloton leaves Florence the riders will pass through Ponte a Ema, the birthplace of two-time Tour champion Gino Bartali.
And then it's onto a tough 206km stage that includes seven categorised climbs and more then 3,600m of climbing over the hills of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.
On paper this looks ideally suited for the breakaway specialists with the final climb in San Marino being just under 26km from a likely fast ending to the finish line on the Adriatic and the Rimini coast.
Read our stage guide here
It is that time of the year again.
Say hello to the sight and sound of the summer as our coverage of cycling’s greatest race and possibly the biggest annual sporting event in the world gets under way.
A three-week odyssey that will be beautiful and butal at the same time. It is unmistakably the Tour de France.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images