Last year Jurgen Van Den Broeck crashed out of the Tour de France and during most of the spring, he struggled to find back to his former level. In the Dauphiné, however, he proved that he is back to his best and his coach even claims that the Belgian is better than he has been for years.

Jurgen Van den Broeck recently confirmed his good form with a third place in the Dauphiné, and so the Lotto-Belisol leader travels to the Tour with confidence, which

"My third in the Dauphiné felt good. I knew that things looked good when I trained on the climbs but I really needed that result to go into the Tour de France with the right feeling. The Dauphiné never lies,” he told Sporza.

“My only mission was to arrive in Leeds with the best possible condition. Then the race will determine your fate. It’s simple. I hope I am as good as I was in 2011 when I nearly won the stage on the Mur-de-Bretagne. That was a climb which should usually have been a little too explosive for me.

“I know that I can be good in the Tour. If I don’t crash I usually finish in the top 10. But my goal is the third place. I know that it is my limit. To get there, I have to ride wisely for three weeks and not attack like crazy.

“It is going to be Froome against Contador and I think Nibali also wants to have his say. You always have the big two but behind them there is a group of a dozen riders that can finish third. Valverde will also be good. He has already had a great season.

Marc Lamberts, Jurgen Van den Broeck’s, has confidence in his protege.

"Physically, he really on top. In the last five or six years, he has never been sharper and that says a lot. He is lighter than he has been for years.

“He had to be good in the Dauphiné to be able to go to the Tour with a good feeling. And we saw that his condition is really great. In the last three months, his preparation has been perfect. We have just had to make a few adjustments,

“The Dauphine has given all of us a lot of confidence. It felt great to see him climb with the best already in the first mountain stage. It’s some time since he last did that.

“In the Tour, everything has to go well. One bad day is enough to take you out of the GC. A few riders will fight it out for the first places behind the dup Froome-Contador. If Jurgen doesn’t have bad luck, he will finish in the top 7.”