Marquee A - Vincenzo Nibali | Bahrain Merida
GC Classification - Withdrawal (DNS on Stage 13)
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 11 (9th), Stage 12 (7th)
From the start, I had backed Nibali for the overall TdF win this year and from what we did see from him the Italian did look very, very strong. He was in a brilliant place for both a Stage victory and to take the GC lead on Stage 12 but a cycling fan knocked him off his bike with their camera strap. After a heavy crash in which he broke his vertebra, Nibali managed to regain contact with the main pack with only a few kilometres left and finished only 13 seconds down. Had he not crashed, he would have no doubt had the legs to attack and gain time on Geraint Thomas and his major rivals. Bahrian-Merida looked very strong after Stage 12 also, with both the Izagirre brothers being very prominent in the breakaways.
Marquee B - Romain Bardet | AG2R La Mondiale
GC Classification - 6th | + 6:57
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 11 (8th), Stage 12 (3rd), Stage 19 (3rd)
A commendable but not overly impressive Tour for Bardet, but he did well with the multiple withdrawals that AG2R La Mondiale had throughout the 21 stages. He had two podium finishes on Stage 12 and Stage 19 coming 3rd in both, and finished 8th on Stage 11. He was strong in the mountains but had an off day in which he lost a little bit of time, and his Individual Time Trial weakness was again very present on Stage 22.
Sprinter - Dylan Groenewegen | LottoNL-Jumbo
GC Classification - Withdrawal (DNF on Stage 12)
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 1 (6th), Stage 4 (4th), Stage 7 (1st), Stage 8 (1st)
Groenewegen took a while to find form as he struggled to make any impact on the first few sprints with only a 6th-place finish on Stage 1 and a 4th-place finish on Stage 4. The next two sprints the Dutchman dominated and no-one even had a chance to rival him for victory on Stage 7 and Stage 8, and his straight line speed and power was unrivalled. It was unfortunate for him that the Tour de France was planned to be so demanding in the mountains that none of the big Sprinters survived past Stage 12, and Groenewegen was also a victim - having to abandon on Stage 12 with no chance of making the time cut.
Time-Trialist - Stefan Küng | BMC Racing
GC Classification - 53rd
Youth Classification - 8th
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 3 TTT (1st)
A very disappointing Tour for the Swiss Time-Trial specialist who struggled to make an impact on the Individual Time Trial on Stage 20 as he finished 12th. A stage win with the rest of the BMC team in the Team Time Trial on Stage 3, but other than that it was relatively quiet for the Swiss youngster. It will be very interesting to see what the young Swiss rider can do at Groupama-FDJ next season.
Super Domestique - Geraint Thomas | Team Sky
GC Classification - 1st
Mountains Classification - 4th
Points Classification - 8th
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 3 TTT (2nd), Stage 6 (9th), Stage 10 (10th), Stage 11 (1st), Stage 12 (1st), Stage 17 (3rd), Stage 19 (2nd), Stage 20 ITT ( 3rd)
An incredibly successful Tour de France for Geraint Thomas with the overall GC win, two stage victories and 4 podium finishes on Stage 3, 17, 19 & 20. After the first Stage where Chris Froome lost time after being barged/crashing off the road due to a Katusha rider, I was saying that Geraint Thomas was Team Sky's leader and he was going to go all the way. Himself and Tom Dumoulin proved to be the strongest riders in the mountains, and his Time Trial brilliance cemented his GC win.
Domestique A - Pierre Latour | AG2R La Mondiale
GC Classification - 13th
Youth Classification - 1st
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 6 (2nd), Stage 16 (10th)
A pretty successful Tour for the young Frenchman who, as I had predicted, took the White Jersey. He also looked very strong on the more explosive climbs and finishes, coming 2nd behind Dan Martin on Stage 6. AG2R La Mondiale definitely allowed Latour free reign on this Tour and he provided us with some exciting riding, but after AG2R suffered some pretty major setbacks with various withdrawals he was pushed back into a Domestique position for GC-man Romain Bardet.
Domestique B - Michal Kwiatkowski | Team Sky
GC Classification - 49th
Top 10 Finishes - Stage 3 TTT (2nd), Stage 20 ITT (4th)
Obviously Kwiatkowski wasn't allowed off the leash with both Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome relying on his pacing in the final kilometres on many stages. More of a punchy rider opposed to an out-and-out climber (like Wout Poels or Egan Bernal) so no excellent finishes apart from the Time Trials on Stage 3 & Stage 20 - a very strong asset to have on the Team Sky team however!
Domestique C - Mikel Landa | Movistar
GC Classification - 7th
Team Classification - 1st (with Movistar)
Top 10 Finishes - Stage TTT (3rd), Stage 12 (5th), Stage 17 (9th), Stage 19 (7th)
An exciting Tour from Mikel Landa who eventually ended up being the highest placed Movistar man despite mostly being Nario Quintana's domestique. He was prominent in breakaways and Movistar rode a very, very exciting Tour. Ultimately not the strongest in the mountains but his training has probably been focused on the Spaniard being 2nd in the pecking order behind Quintana so that's not much of a surprise.