Starts on the sand for the TTT in two days. Quite a lot of could be GC contenders - Froome, Quintana, Aru, Nibali, Valverde, van Garderen, Landa and Thomas. Probably only about half of those will be actually going for GC, though. Lotto Jumbo go from having four top 10 chancers at the Tour to no-one of note here.

Not much in terms of sprinting. Caleb Ewan gets his first big European outing after doing well in Poland. Maybe Sagan will actually get a win or two? Quite a few riders still haven't confirmed contracts for next year, which might generate some big name breakaways.

I expect quite a few people will choose the first rest day as the point to pull out in preparation for the world championships, especially with this batshit day being the next stage: http://cdn.coresites.factorymedia.com/rcuk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Stage-11.jpg