Chris Froome leads the Tour de France contenders

But there is a long list of worthy contenders ready to pounce should the Team Sky rider falter after his efforts in the Giro d’Italia.

Here Press Association Sport weighs up those most likely to be scrapping over yellow.

Chris Froome

Age: 33
Nationality: British
Team: Team Sky
Previous appearances (finishes in brackets): 2008 (84th), 2012 (second), 2013 (first), 2014 (DNF – withdrew stage five), 2015 (first), 2016 (first), 2017 (first)
Stage wins: Seven (2012 – stage seven; 2013 – stages eight, 15 and 17; 2015 – stage 10; 2016 – stages eight and 18)

Should he be racing or not? Froome will begin his quest for a fourth straight Tour title and record-equalling fifth overall even as the case over his adverse analytical finding for salbutamol at La Vuelta last year continues. Froome maintains he has done nothing wrong and he is within his rights to race. Others say he should voluntarily sideline himself until the case is resolved, but he has no intention of doing so as potential history beckons. He has won the Tour, Vuelta and Giro d’Italia in the last 12 months to hold all three Grand Tour titles at once – assuming he keeps that Vuelta crown – and can now move level with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain, and Jacques Anquetil on a record five Tour titles. He has proven himself the best Grand Tour racer of the age, but distractions will be legion as he aims to complete the first Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

Richie Porte

Age: 33
Nationality: Australian
Team: Team BMC
Previous appearances: 2011 (72nd), 2012 (89th), 2013 (19th), 2014 (23rd), 2015 (48th), 2016 (fifth), 2017 (DNF – crashed stage nine)
Stage wins: None

Richie Porte’s name has appeared on the list of contenders at several Grands Tours in recent years but the breakthrough is yet to come. At the age of 33, time is running out for the Australian, an accomplished stage-race winner, to prove he can hold it together over three weeks. Terrible luck has followed Porte every time he has targeted the general classification at one of the biggest races, with crashes, illnesses and mechanicals combining to derail him every time. His recent win in the Tour de Suisse shows he has the form, and if Froome falters then his old friend Porte could be the man to profit.

Nairo Quintana

Age: 28
Nationality: Colombian
Team: Movistar
Previous appearances: 2013 (second), 2015 (second), 2016 (third), 2017 (12th)
Stage wins: One (2013 – stage 20)

When Nairo Quintana finished second overall as the best young rider in the 2013 Tour, it seemed a question of when the Colombian would win cycling’s biggest race. He has since taken the Giro and Vuelta crowns, but the Tour continues to elude him, despite further podium finishes in 2015 and 2016. Last year’s ambitious Giro-Tour double was a bridge too far and he could only manage 12th in France after a close second in Italy. With Froome racing in Italy this year, Quintana hopes focusing purely on the Tour will work for him, but he will need to contain the threat from within posed by ambitious team-mate Mikel Landa – who made clear in the last two years at Team Sky he does not appreciate playing a supporting role.

Romain Bardet

Age: 27
Nationality: French
Team: AG2R La-Mondiale
Previous appearances: 2013 (15th), 2014 (sixth), 2015 (ninth), 2016 (second), 2017 (third)
Stage wins: Three (2015 – stage 18, 2016 – stage 19, 2017 – stage 12)

It is 33 years since Bernard Hinault took the last of his five Tour titles in 1985. That is an awfully long wait for another French winner, resulting in a weight of expectation and pressure which grows on any likely contender with each passing year. Bardet looks the best equipped of the current crop to cope with those demands, putting himself ahead of Thibaut Pinot and Warren Barguil by finishing second in 2016 and third in 2017. His AG2R squad are strong and fully committed, and a rivalry with Sky has been building nicely, both with their race tactics in the Criterium du Dauphine and with Bardet’s outspoken comments calling for Froome to be sidelined.

Vincenzo Nibali

Age: 33
Nationality: Italian
Team: Bahrain-Merida
Previous appearances: 2008 (20th), 2009 (sixth), 2012 (third), 2014 (first), 2015 (fourth), 2016 (30th)
Stage wins: Five (2014 – stages two, 10,13 and 18, 2015 – stage 19).

Only one man in this Tour besides Froome knows how it feels to arrive in Paris in the yellow jersey, and that is Vincenzo Nibali. The 2014 winner is a proven Grand Tour rider, having won four in total and completed the hat-trick of Tour, Giro and Vuelta wins. But there are questions over his form this summer after he skipped his home Giro to focus on the Tour, only to disappoint in the Criterium as he finished down in 24th place, complaining of allergies. Was that a temporary blip, or a sign that he is not where he needs to be?

Adam Yates

Age: 25
Nationality: British
Team: Mitchelton-Scott
Previous Appearances: 2015 (50th), 2016 (fourth).
Stage wins: None

For two weeks a Yates twin bossed the Giro d’Italia. Two months on from Simon’s run in pink, what can Adam do in the Tour? The 25-year-old took fourth place overall in 2016 and won the young riders’ classification, so a podium finish looks a realistic target this time around with Mitchelton-Scott electing to leave sprinter Caleb Ewan at home to go all-in for Yates. His season was interrupted by injury at the start, but he has bounced back and was second to Thomas in the Criterium, picking up a stage on the way. The list of white jersey winners that have gone on to take yellow is short, but Yates is not a man who frets over such records.