Videos: (1) Inside Nico Roche’s Tinkoff-Saxo on the Tour de France. (2) The favourites profiled

Nicolas Roche on stage with his team at the official Tour de France presentation in Leeds last night (Photo: Sirotti)

Here’s two great videos for us as the cycling world ramps up for the Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire tomorrow.

The first is a look inside Nicolas Roche’s Tinkoff-Saxo team as they hit the roads for a tune-up spin in the UK before hostilities get underway.

The second video is a profile of the 10 main favourites for the coveted yellow jersey on the road to Paris over the next three weeks.

Asked how he felt about going into the Tour with the spotlight firmly on team mate Alberto Contador as the main favourite expected to put it up to defending champion Chris Froome, Roche said he was “excited”.

“I was super excited to ride for him last year and showing the recent form that he has makes it even more exciting. We know he’s really a challenger and I think it’s going to be a super close race, at least on the TV side.

“And it puts a lot of responsibility on the team around him too. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”

Riding a $20,000 prototype Specialized McLaren, Roche joked that he had gone online this morning and taken out insurance just in case anything happened to the bike.

“It was nice to get the bike this morning, it’s a great ride,” he added of the machine that will see a limited number of 250 custom made to the specific body geometry of the purchasers.

Incidentally, team owner Oleg Tinkoff has predicted a Contador, Froome, Valverde podium in Paris.