The latest episode of the Cyclingnews Podcast comes on the eve of the first stage of the Tour de France, with Daniel Benson and Patrick Fletcher bringing more of the build-up from the Grand Départ in the Vendée region.

 The hot topic on Friday was undoubtedly Chris Froome, or rather the boos and jeers he received the previous evening at the teams presentation in La Roche-sur-Yvon. We discuss the atmosphere at the race and how it might develop, as well as looking at Team Sky’s handling of the tensions with the home nation, Froome having written a column in French daily newspaper Le Monde on Friday in a bid to reach out to the public.

 Friday saw another busy day of press conferences, and including Movistar, Bora-Hansgrohe, Bahrain-Merida, UAE Team Emirates and Mitchelton-Scott. We hear from world champion Peter Sagan about how he’s feeling 12 months after his early disqualification from last year’s Tour, along with Dan Martin and the. We also hear from Adam Yates and discuss the his chances, along with speaking to Mathew Hayman, who has a big role to play for the Briton in the opening week.

 Finally, in a special feature of our 2018 Tour de France podcasts, we’ll hear directly from Bahrain-Merida’s Heinrich Haussler, who is making his return to the Tour de France after his career appeared to be on the verge of collapse 12 months ago. Heinrich will be sending in audio dispatches throughout the Tour, and here you can hear his pre-race thoughts.