Latest 2015 Tour de France Update

Yellow Jersey Contenders Odds

The Tour de France begins Saturday, July 4 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. At this point, many believe that the competition will be between four contenders, 2014 Tour Champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team), 2013 Tour Champion Chris Froome (Team Sky), 2015 Giro d'Italia Champion Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Last week I went over what to expect from these four, plus some of the dark horse contenders, like Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and the competition for the sprinters' green jersey.
Bicycling Magazine compiled the odds of many of the contenders to win the Tour de France. They have listed the top four in the following order: Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. Each is listed at under 5 to 1 on average.

Route Change

Stage 20, the last stage before Paris, has been changed to eliminate the climb to the Col du Galibier due to landslides and tunnel damage in April. The French repair teams have not completed the necessary repairs to ensure the safety of the peloton and crowds that would go to the Col. The risk of another landslide forced the Tour organizers to plan another route to Alpe d'Huez. The starting and ending point of the stage will remain the same as well as the stage distance, 110.5 km (68.7 miles) with the Col de la Croix de Fer replacing the Col du Galibier. The peloton will race up the Col de la Croix de Fer in the opposite direction on Stage 19.

National Champions Crowned

Cycling Weekly has an article fully describing both time trial and road race national champions crowned to this point in the season.

Time trial champions

Great Britain: Alex Dowsett (Movistar)

Germany: Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step)

Norway: Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka)

Slovakia: Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo)

Road race champions

Great Britain: Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky)

Italy: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)

Spain: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

Netherlands: Niki Terpstra (Etixx – Quick-Step)

Switzerland: Danilo Wyss (BMC)

Denmark: Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff – Saxo)

Slovakia: Peter Sagan (Tinkoff- Saxo)

Czech Republic: Petr Vakoc (Etixx – Quick-Step)

Luxembourg: Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing)

Russia: Yuri Trofimov (Katusha)

Portugal: Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida)

Norway: Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka)