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Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience Paris Saint-Germain recently organised the fifth edition of the Club Tour SNIPES reinforcing the club's connection with the Paris region and the budding footballers in it 10 clubs from the Île-de-France - the region around Paris - benefited from training sessions led by the Paris Saint-Germain technical staff Women's team international defender Griedge Mbock paid the young players at Club Athlétique Paris XIV a surprise visit on the Tour's opening day giving them a chance to play with her and ask her about her career the clubs have had the chance to play on the Parc des Princes at half-time of a Ligue 1 game a unique and memorable experience for them all The final tournament brought 24 clubs to the PSG Campus on Sunday more than 1200 youngsters took part in training sessions and came together at the PSG Campus for the Club Tour Cup on a day of celebration and joy The Club Tour SNIPES also went to 10 different areas in the Paris region the Women's Team's Deputy Sporting Director handed the trophy to the winners during Sunday's second session Paris Saint-Germain's U11 boys and girls teams won their respective tournaments and will be back to defend their title next year Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here This year’s race begins in France’s cycling heartland before heading to the mountains and a climax in the Pyrenees Brest – Landerneau 197.8kmThe Tour opens with a loop through France’s cycling heartland home to heroes of the past such as the five-times winner Bernard Hinault and present-day aspirants such as Warren Barguil A hilly route travels south to Quimper then returns north to finish close to the start up a steep two-mile climb tailor made for France’s biggest current star who will be under intense pressure to deliver the stage win and yellow jersey With more brief ascents approaching the finish crashes are inevitable as the field fights for position before the closing hill More little climbs for a first reshuffle of the overall contenders Again it’s Alaphilippe’s favoured terrain – another short steeper ascent to the finish – but the Mur is tackled twice Another favourite will be the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel The contest to be at the front for the climb is as daunting as the ascent itself; a crash or puncture will be costly the race visits Hinault’s old stamping ground of Saint-Brieuc and the Badger would definitely have relished this finish with more nods to Brittany’s cycling past and present The start close to Barguil’s home town of Hennebont will draw plenty of “Wawa” fans and the route travels down the coast to Carnac of stone row fame then passes Plumelec and the Cadoudal hill A bunch sprint finish looks inevitable; Mark Cavendish returns to the Tour with Deceuninck-QuickStep after Sam Bennett was ruled out through injury with Australia’s Caleb Ewan a big rival for stage wins and favourite for the green jersey The race ventures towards Normandy but stops just short of the border at another town with cycling history who became a mainstay of the group that organises the Tour By now the daily pattern will have been set: an early break of a handful of riders from the lesser French teams scooped up in time for a bunch sprint finish other favourites include the evergreen Peter Sagan the Norwegian Alexandr Kristoff and perhaps the Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni A first proper sort-out with a time trial long enough to create gaps but short enough that they shouldn’t be definitive climbing from the start and again towards the finish an initial chance to assess 2021 winner Tadej Pogacar It also suits specialists such as Belgian Victor Campenaerts and Swiss rider Stefan Küng home turf of Küng’s FDJ manager Marc Madiot It’s 13 years since Cavendish won the first of his 30 Tour de France stage wins here and he will get the chance to add to his tally after he made Deceuninck’s Tour team following the injury to Bennett with the same cast as on previous days and by now it should be pretty clear who is on top The longest stage of the race; stages over 240km were once relatively common but are now a rarity as every rider aiming to win a hilly stage will have this one on his list; the battle to get in the day’s break will be intense In the final 50km there are two climbs long and hard enough to dislodge the sprinters; if Sagan has not won a stage so far the chances are he and his Bora team will target this one and aim to bring the race together in the final hour Tao Geoghegan Hart is expected to prosper as the race moves into the mountains Photograph: Bas Czerwinski/Getty ImagesAfter a transfer It’s not the rudest of introductions but the Col de Romme-Col de Colombière diptych will whittle the main group down to 15 at best The mountains jersey should change hands so there will be riders seeking out the early break to stake their claim on the polkadots Expect a show of strength over the final climbs from a team looking to control the standings – Ineos most obviously or Jumbo-Visma – and a stage win for a climber who can sprint such as Rigoberto Urán of Colombia or Tao Geoghegan Hart this year the Tour bypasses the highest and most iconic Alpine passes and today’s gloriously scenic Cormet de Roselend is about the best we will see of the massif The long descents after the Col des Saisies and the Roselend will give weaker climbers a chance to get back to the front group before the final sort-out The winner will probably come from an early move – the likes of Barguil or Nairo Quintana are obvious candidates – but the draggy Tignes finish climb will suit a rider like Alaphilippe or Thomas rather than a lighter pure climber This might be more interesting than your average flat “transition” stage because there’s just enough climbing at key points to suggest that the sprint teams might not have it all their own way If Sagan is feeling frisky he might try to burn off one or two of the heavier brethren and if Ewan’s Lotto have lost riders who would normally work to control the stage or if Deceuninck are marshalling Alaphilippe in the yellow jersey the chances are a break will succeed with an opportunistic win for a rider like Thomas De Gendt or Søren Kragh Andersen Given the reduced quota of climbing in the Alps today’s unprecedented double ascent of the fearsome Mont Ventoux should be when a definitive picture emerges at the top of the classification The second ascent of the “Giant of Provence” could do serious damage Roglic or Thomas to show what they have in the locker but all eyes will be on Colombian Miguel Ángel López winner of the Ventoux challenge in early June posting the fastest time for the climb since 2004 There are two scenarios for this run through the gorges of the Ardèche and the hills to the west of the Rhône Either the race will follow the usual pattern of doomed breakaway Or the mistral will blow from somewhere between north-west and east and all hell will break loose late on as the bunch splinters in the wind the latter the strongest team in the race: Ineos or Deceuninck A windy day will offer Thomas or Alaphilippe the chance to gain time on the climbers The second longest stage of the race – and a rare day of over 200km – has a similar look to the previous one with no major hills and roads that are innocuous enough in clement conditions but can be brutal in a cross wind By this stage it should be clear who is the best sprinter and if Ewan is heading to achieve his 2021 target of winning stages in all three Grand Tours also whether Sagan is en route to take a record eighth Tour green jersey or if he’s being threatened by an all-rounder such as Aussie Michael Matthews or Italian Sonny Colbrelli Only a few stages in this year’s Tour are hilly enough to deter the sprinters and favour the all-rounders as opposed to the pure mountain goats through Cathar country in the rarely visited eastern Pyrenees twisting roads and constant up and downs favour a breakaway and the battle to be in it will be desperate as even after two weeks the majority of teams will have yet to win a stage One for a rider like Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet Bauke Mollema or Simon Yates if they are not involved in the overall battle This stage is almost bound to see an early escape contest the finish because although the late climb of the Port d’Envalira is the highest point on the Tour it’s not steep enough to cause huge damage so any sparring for the overall standings will come within Andorra on the Col de Beixalis The overall contenders should finish together unless anyone is having an off day; this is a good one for the stage hunters such as Yates or France’s David Gaudu but also the best descenders such as Bahrain’s Matej Mohoric and old fox Vincenzo Nibali Julian Alaphilippe is the host nation’s biggest hope Photograph: Gian Ehrenzeller/EPAFive days of climbing in the Pyrenees is almost unprecedented for the Tour and each is very different: today involves shorter with the main sort-out likely to come on the Col de la Core before the final shootout on the Portet-d’Aspet each day’s breakaway will include many of the same riders with teams getting increasingly panicked if they haven’t yet won a stage The overall contenders will want this to be a controlled stage but these roads are eminently suitable for skirmishing involving the likes of Alaphilippe or Daniel Martin of Ireland The first of two mountain-top finishes that should decide the race flattish preamble where a large break should gain several minutes – in recent years these have involved as many as 30 riders – while the final 50kms includes a daunting trio of passes culminating in the hardest finish of the Tour the super-steep 10 miles to the Col de Portet Roglic and Pogacar will be the main men here and the stage win should go to the best climber out of the break – a rider like Gaudu Shorter and more straightforward than the previous day; the Col du Tourmalet is arguably the most iconic climb in the Pyrenees and Luz Ardiden one of the classic finishes There is always room for a surprise attack but on paper this stage should replicate the verdict of the previous day as it will favour exactly the same kind of rider Again there should be a massive early escape involving climbers who are out of contention overall but the brevity of the stage means they are liable to be scooped up late on leaving the stage win for whoever is in the yellow jersey The sprinters will have been attempting to survive for the last few days with this stage and Sunday’s run in to Paris in their minds That’s enough incentive for most of them but the outcome of the stage may depend on how many of their teammates have got through the mountains as well Five successive mountain stages may see off more of the domestiques than usual and it might see off sprinters who really can’t climb like Kristoff or Ewan So it’s a day for perhaps a rider like Matthews or Colbrelli who will deal with the mountains better than most which will seem like a bad joke to the big-boned types who have grovelled through the Alps and Pyrenees Since last year’s reversal at La Planche des Belles Filles the Tour has fallen back in love with time trials and this one is long enough to create a surprise or two In theory the Tour will have gone through more than enough mountains since leaving Brittany to ensure that the strongest climber has ample margin to relax on this stage But that’s far from certain – and therein lies the great fascination of this race The Tour organisers have meddled with the sprint format only once since first finishing on the Champs in 1975 the other Grand Tours have always experimented with time trials on the last day and perhaps it’s time the biggest race of all tried something different the champagne drinking en route and the final dash up Paris’s grandest avenue does have a slightly hackneyed feel