Chris Froome

Team:Team Sky

Nationality: British

Age: 33

Following the resolution of his salbutamol case in the week counting down to this year's race, four-time champion Chris Froome will arrive on the starting line in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île as the bookmakers' favourite to win the 105th edition of the Tour de France. Despite being given the all clear to race after the International Cycling Union (UCI) dropped the case against Froome, the Kenya-born rider and his team-mates cannot expect an easy ride from large swathes of the public and world's media. How Team Sky cope will be fascinating.

From a purely sporting perspective, Froome will be in high spirits following his historic Giro d'Italia victory in May. Following a slow start to the race, Froome claimed two highly memorable results having won the toughest two stages at the Giro after prevailing atop Monte Zoncolan ahead of race leader Simon Yates before, three days later, going on a Fausto Coppi-esque solo breakaway over the top of the Colle delle Finestre to take his second stage and, more importantly, the overall lead. If Froome can carry that form through to the Tour, easier said than done in a World Cup year when there is an additional week between races, then he may just be unbeatable.