Chris Froome (Sky) took the expected win in today's time trial but it was much closer than predicted. He can expect to get under huge attacks in tomorrow's stage which is the most anticipated of the entire Tour. With two ascents of the Alpe d'Huez on the route, the scene is set for a thrilling stage where the battle for podium positions is very much on and all climbers will target the highly prestigious win. At the same time, Team Saxo-Tinkoff have promised to launch a big attack somewhere in the Alps. Will it be tomorrow? Starting at 12.15 you can follow the exciting stage in its entirety on CyclingQuotes.com/live,

As this is the 100th edition of the race, ASO always had the task of inventing something spectacular to celebrate the anniversary and they surely did so when they designed the 18th stage. At the route presentation, that stage attracted all the attention and it was almost completely overlooked that a giant like the Mont Ventoux was also included in the race. With the absence in 2009 and 2010 being the major exception, the Alpe d'Huez has made an appearance on the race route every other year in the recent editions and as the legendary climb was last included in 2011 when Pierre Rolland became a surprise winner and Andy Schleck briefly rode himself into yellow, it was always obvious that the Alpe would be back this year.

What was far less obvious was that ASO will send the riders up the legendary slopes twice on the same day, thus creating a hugely spectacular and highly anticipated stage. The riders start off by climbing the category 2 Col de Manse (6,6km, 6,2%) which was also included at the end of stage 16, from the other direction, thus offering a perfect launch pad for an early attack but from then on the roads are only slightly undulating, offering a category 3 (Rampe du Motty, 2,4km, 8%) and a category 2 climb (Col d'Ornon, 5,1km, 6,7%) along the way. With 62,3km to go, the expected drama is set to begin as the riders climb the legendary Alpe (12,3km, 8,4%). For the first time ever, they won't continue to the traditional finish but turn right a little earlier to start a small descent before climbing to the top of the category 2 Col  de Sarenne (3km, 7,8%). Then they will face a highly technical descent which leads back down to Bourg d'Oisans at the bottom of the climb. The riders had the opportunity to test out this double climb and the downhill section in stage 7 of the recent Criterium du Dauphiné and Tony Martin used the opportunity to criticize ASO, saying that the descent was way too dangerous to include in a bike race.

Having finished the downhill part, there will be a very short flat section in the valley and then the riders will climb back up to the top of the Alpe. This time they follow the traditional route to the usual finishing line, thus making it a 13,8km, 8,1% climb. The ascent is toughest in the beginning while the final 3km are not overly difficult with a gradient of mostly around 5%.

The riders had their first taste of rain today and should get much more of that tomorrow. The day should start under cloudy conditions with temperatures of 25 degrees but that should change very soon. From around 14.00, they will face frequent violent storms with rain, possibly hail, and strong wind gusts from different directions. At the finish, the temperature should only be 11-12 degrees and it should be rather foggy. Those conditions may disturb the production of live images but could also make the race much harder. Most notably, the already dangerous descent from the Col de Sarenne will now be extremely treacherous.

Some riders may point to the Champs-Elysees but most riders would doubtlessly point to tomorrow's stage if they were free to pick a stage that they would win. The Alpe d'Huez is certainly not the most difficult climb in France and it is far from having the deepest cycling history but for some reason it has taken the position as the most iconic climb in cycling. This is where every climber wants to win and so all riders with a solid pair of climbing legs have big plans for tomorrow.

Many riders know that they have no chance of taking that win if they battle with the favourites on the final climb and so we should be in for another festival of attacks in the early part of the race. The break is, however, unlikely to go clear already on the Col de Manse and as the next part is not difficult at all, it will be difficult for the pure climbers to get into the early move.

They can be consoled by the fact that this break is unlikely to have any impact on the final result. Alejandro Valverde has made it clear that his major target for the rest of race is to win tomorrow and so Movistar are likely to pick up the pace to keep the early move under control. They could get some assistance from Katusha and Euskaltel who are also both hopeful to win the stage. Sky would certainly love to win the stage but as they can expect a flurry of attacks the next few days, they are likely to save as much energy as they can. Hence, we would not expect them to chase down the early break.

Should it come down to the final climb, it is hard to imagine anyone beating Froome. His win today may have been less convincing than expected but nothing suggests that Froome is not the best climber in the race. He was narrowly beaten by Contador on the first climb today but - as always - the Spaniard had started out too fast. On the second climb, Froome was 9 seconds faster despite switching to a time trial bike before the top of the climb.

Joaquin Rodriguez and Nairo Quintana were both 7 seconds faster than Froome on the second climb but Quintana changed bike after the top. Rodriguez also did his change before the time check but Froome put 15 seconds into the Spaniard on the first ascent. Had it not been for his cautious approach to the first descent, his win would have been far more convincing. He was extremely superior on the Ax-3-Domaines, a little less on the Mont Ventoux and his rivals got a little closer again today. That tendency may continue but it is still hard to imagine anyone beating Froome in a head-to-head battle on the Alpe.

Instead, his rivals have to invent something and the only possibility is to attack him from afar. We could see an offensive already launched on the Col d'Ornon but the most likely is that the fireworks will really kick off the first time up the Alpe d'Huez.

As said, Valverde has marked this stage out as his major target and we would be surprised if the Spaniard does not attack the first time up the main climb. He knows that he has few chances beating Froome on the final climb and his only chance is to attack from afar. He is a splendid descender and has a good chance of increasing any gap he might have built up on the ascent.

Valverde's main advantage is that he is no GC threat and so the podium contenders have no need to respond. He may have struggled a bit on the Ventoux - claiming that his heart rate for some reason could not reach its maximum - but in the two most recent stages he has proved that he is still one of the very best climbers in the race. He is likely to send one or two riders up the road in the early break and Ruben Plaza, Rui Costa and Andrey Amador should all be able to deliver good assistance. The question is of course whether his rival teams will allow this to happen.

We are curious to see how Nairo Quintana will approach the stage. The team could send both its leaders up the road the first time up the Alpe but that strategy could backfire on Valverde. Quintana's presence would force the other teams to chase much harder. On the other hand, Quintana targets a spot on the podium and he would certainly benefit from a harder race which he could create by doing what he has done so far: launch an early attack.

Of course Quintana could also wait for the final climb and he is the rider most likely to follow Froome. He got very close on the Mont Ventoux and it cannot be ruled out that he has what it takes to match the race leader. Should it come down to a sprint between those two, it would be a close battle. None of them are really fast in a sprint but they are not slow either.

Joaquin Rodriguez has always claimed that it was all about hitting peak condition for the final hard week and everything suggests  that he has succeeded in that mission. His main target is the podium but he would certainly not shy away from a stage win on the Alpe d'Huez. He has plenty of time to make up if he is to get into the top 3 and so he would be another rider who could benefit from a hard race. We would expect him to wait for the final time up the Alpe but if Valverde attacks on the first ascent, he could join the move.

Froome will have to drop Rodriguez early on the Alpe as the Spaniard is very hard to beat inside the final kilometre. On Mont Ventoux, he made one of his trademark accelerations as he passed the flamme rouge, and those are always very hard to follow. Should it come down to a sprint, he only has to fear Valverde who is, however, the fastest of the two.

On the rest day, Alberto Contador said that he had planned one big attack in one of the Alpine stages and that stage could be tomorrow's but is likely to be Friday's. The win tomorrow is hugely prestigious but the difficulties are mostly concentrated in the final part of the race and it will be hard for him to use the strength of his team to wear out Sky on those final two climbs. Friday's stage may not have an uphill finish but has a very tough opening part. The course is perfectly suited to long-distance attacks and we would expect him to play the Rogers and Kreuziger cards to wear out Sky before attacking himself.

That said the team is unlikely to just roll to the bottom of the Alpe d'Huez to be dealt another blow by Froome. We would expect the team to play out either Rogers or Kreuziger to wear out Sky and then Contador could save his own attack for another day as he also hopes to benefit from his good recovery. However, we have not been impressed with his climbing in the early part of the race and it must be a cause for concern that he was dropped by Mikel Nieve on Mont Ventoux despite having been unable to take a single relay on the wind-exposed roads. We would expect him to lose another chunk of time tomorrow.

The Belkin boys Laurens Ten Dam and Bauke Mollema both appear to be slowing down. Ten Dam already lost time yesterday and both had disappointing rides today. Those two could very well end up as the big losers tomorrow.

Valverde is not the only rider to have targeted today's stage. Andy Schleck and Mikel Nieve are both likely to try something from a long distance. Schleck bounced back from the Ventoux disappointment with a solid ride today as he was 12th and 7th fastest on the two climbs today. We would be highly surprised not to see him try a move from afar.

The same goes for Nieve who has been one of the best climbers in this race. He both targets the stage win and the mountains jersey and that will force him on the offensive. He would have preferred a harder stage with more and longer climbs but we would expect him to attack no later than the first time up the Alpe d'Huez.

Pierre Rolland is one of his two rivals for the mountains jersey - the other is Froome - and the Frenchman has clearly saved energy the last two days to launch one of his trademark attacks in the Alps. However, he is not as strong as he was in 2011 and 2012 and we doubt that he has the strength to finish it off. Cadel Evans saved energy today for an attack tomorrow and we would also expect the Australian to try something. The stage win seems to be far beyond his reach though.

Finally, we would like to point to a number of riders that could produce some good rides tomorrow. Bart De Clercq, Steve Morabito, Arnold Jeannesson and Alexandre Geniez may not be strong enough to take that prestigious win but they could all get a very prominent place in the spotlight.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner picks: Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana

Outsiders: Joaquin Rodriguez, Mikel Nieve, Andy Schleck