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The route for next year's Tour de France has Chris Froome considering his options for 2015

Lia Hervey considers the importance of confidence in cycling

As the 2015 Tour de France route was unveiled in Paris, there were few surprises for the assembled pro-cyclists and cycling journalists. Lots of mountains, few time trials, a good hard section across northern France including some of the Paris Roubaix route.

In sport confidence can win a race before it's even started. In athletics, sprinters claim the race is won in the dressing room and the same can be said of cycling. We often interview riders before a major race and you can see their success before they've even mounted a bike.
Lia Hervey

A tough race which would favour those technically competent in one day stage races and cobbles, and someone who could cope with numerous mountain stages. However not a race for a good time trialist like Chris Froome, his best opportunity to put time into his rivals.

It was not a shoe-in for a win for the former race champion but yet it wasn't out of his capabilities. Chris still has the ability to crank up the pain in his competitors in those tough mountain stages.

The surprise then came in the form of a statement, published on the Team Sky riders website. He may not be racing the Tour - instead focusing on the Giro and the Vuelta because he felt he may not be able to win the race.

In sport confidence can win a race before it's even started. In athletics, sprinters claim the race is won in the dressing room and the same can be said of cycling. We often interview riders before a major race and you can see their success before they've even mounted a bike.

Commonwealth time trial gold medallist Alex Dowsett buzzed with energy in his pre-race interview telling me he was hungry and angry and was going to take the win. By comparison David Millar already had an air of defeat and despondency.

Image: Sir Bradley Wiggins: Calm, assertive and confident during his 2012 Tour win

When Sir Bradley Wiggins was struggling in the 2011 Tour de France he often appeared distracted in interviews, nervous and on edge. Compare this with his manner in 2012 before his Olympic and Tour de France wins. A calm, assertive and confident Brad greeted us.

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The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing and of course we can read anything into an athlete's pre-race behaviour after the event but it normally proves correct. In sport where everything is measured today - output, speeds against rivals, competitors form, the teams and riders know what they can do and where they stand.

However Chris Froome's message to the world is he is scared of taking on a Tour he feels he cannot win. Could this give him a disadvantage with his rivals in the future or is this all a game?

Alberto Contador was the hustler of the year with tweets about how bad he was after his Tour de France crash, how he'd taken on the Vuelta to get fit again before surprising everyone and smashing the race, outstripping his rivals and going onto win the major Tour.

Whether Chris is bluffing or doesn't feel up to taking on the worlds hardest cycling race, we won't yet know. The biggest question of all will be will Sir Dave Brailsford let a third Tour de France win slip through his fingers that easily. Unlikely.

Don't discount a British GC rider in the Tour de France yet.

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