TOUCHDOWN AT TOUR DE POGAČAR

It's the calm before the storm, but once the flag drops, can anyone stop the Slovene?

- Ned Boulting

Not long to go now before it all begins again. Where has the last year gone? I've been asked in a number of interviews over the last few weeks which moment I am most looking forward to in the upcoming weeks of broadcasting for ITV. It's not a straightforward question, since we cannot know for sure what's going to happen. Save for one thing: I cannot wait for that spine-tingling moment when, before stage one has even begun, the live pictures of the start line in Lille suddenly flicker into life.

It's normally a helicopter shot that shows the peloton from above. The big name riders, including a certain young man with the number one on his back, are being shepherded to the front row. The last few riders are rolling up to the back of a peloton that is complete, and completely equal. No one has crashed, no one is bandaged or scarred. No one has lost time on GC. Everyone is on O”. No one has won a stage, picked up any KOM points, or competed for an intermediate sprint. Instead, the peloton, for this one, glorious, fleeting moment is a homogeneous organism that speaks of promise, of hope and adventure.