Chris Froome faces bigger challenges off the bike than on it as he embarks on a testing journey towards a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on Saturday.
The defending champion was this week cleared of any wrongdoing by cycling's governing body following an investigation after excessive levels of asthma drug Salbutamol was found in his urine sample during last September's Vuelta a Espana.
In a column in French newspaper Le Monde, the Team Sky rider, attempting to become the first person since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro d'Italia-Tour double, wrote that: "the build up to this race has not been the easiest for me, for the race organisers and for you all - the cycling fans and people of France who are the heartbeat of the Tour."
During the teams presentation in the Vendee region on Thursday, Froome got a taste of what he could expect during the three weeks of the race when he was booed loudly by the crowd.
It brought back memories from his victorious ride on the Tour in 2015, when he had a cup of urine thrown on his face and was called a doper by a spectator.
On Friday afternoon, cycling's world governing body revealed that the World Anti-Doping Agency used as yet unpublished studies before advising the UCI to close the anti-doping investigation into Froome.
Team Sky's dominance and their perceived arrogance have raised questions and triggered suspicions, although no doping allegations have been proven.
Froome, however, rode through the storm with composure and he will be the hot favourite when the race starts in Noirmoutier on Saturday.
Sky's collective force and the Briton's ability to hold off his rivals in the mountains makes him the man to beat even if the opposition has been sharpening their knives.
France's Romain Bardet, twice a podium finisher, tops the list of challengers along with 2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin - two riders who believed Froome should not have been racing while under investigation.
"I hope he will get a kind welcoming," said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
"The Tour de France fans, it's about 10-12 million people, who come on the roads with their family. But among those, some of them could have other reactions."
UAE Team Emirates leader Dan Martin is the only Irish rider taking part in the sport's showpiece event.
Martin raced to sixth overall in last year's Tour despite suffering two broken vertebrae in his back in a stage-nine crash which also cost him considerable time.
That obviously begs the question what he could achieve if he can make it to Paris without incident but he is refusing to set himself specific targets as he readies another assault on the general classification
"I don't feel the need to put a number on it," he said. "The goal will probably just be to stay healthy.
"The main thing to come out of last year was the belief and confidence it gave me, of asking that question, 'What would have been possible without the injury and time loss with the crash?'
"But it's a completely different race, the conditions are different, the condition of my competitors is different. I don't like to think of this race in comparison to last year."
Martin left Quick-Step Floors to join the Emirates squad in the winter, but has found a similar set-up with the team one of the few to come to the Tour with split ambitions, as Martin will target the GC and Alexander Kristoff the sprints.
Though that goes against conventional wisdom, Martin said he thrives on having different goals each day - whether in the mountains or on the flats.
"It's great, I've got this guy to hide behind on the flat stages," he said as he sat next to Kristoff.
"I love having that reason to be in the race every day. Every day we've got a focus on the bus, it's not just, 'Let's finish this stage and try not to lose any time'. It's, 'Let's win this stage with Alex'.
"It's nice to have that focus on every stage."
The first big challenge for the all-rounders will come on July 15 when the peloton tackle cobbled sections in a stage that ends in Roubaix just like the Paris-Roubaix one-day race, also known as the Queen of the Classics.
Should he survive that stage, favourite Froome would have to assert his dominance on iconic climbs like the Alpe d'Huez, the Tourmalet and the Aubisque.
With Colombian Nairo Quintana, Spain's Mikel Landa or even team mate Geraint Thomas also eyeing the Maillot Jaune, Froome could face coordinated attacks with less protection after the number of riders per team was brought down from nine to eight.
World champion Peter Sagan is the huge favourite to win a sixth green jersey for the points classification, one year after being kicked out of the race for elbowing Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.
