The Tour de France is like a good bouillabaisse, the traditional Mediterranean seafood stew. Take out one ingredient, and it does not taste the same.

The stage is set

The Tour starting on Saturday has all the ingredients in place:

A nervy first week on treacherous roads.

Towering mountains passes to climb.

The grandest of finales up 21 hairpin bends to the Alpe d'Huez ski station.

 Four genuine contenders, the most in years, all at the top of their game.

This is the recipe for an appetizing three-week feast of cycling.
 
Anti-clockwise route

"The way the Tour is structured this year, it is really going to be an epic battle between the big rivals," 2013 champion Chris Froome said. "Probably the biggest battle we've seen for years in the Tour de France. It's really exciting."
 
The race between Froome, defending champ Vincenzo Nibali, two-time winner Alberto Contador, and 2014 Giro d'Italia champ Nairo Quintana promises to draw eyeballs from the very first stage, a 14-kilometer (8 1/2-mile) individual time trial in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the only solo stage against the clock.