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    Tour de France 2018: Prize Money, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Full Stage Info

    Rory Marsden@@roomarsdenFeatured ColumnistJuly 5, 2018

    PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 23: Christopher Froome of Great Britain riding for Team Sky in the yellow leader's jersey celebrates his fourth General Classification overall victory with champagne during stage 21 of the 2017 Le Tour de France, a 103km stage from Montgreon to the Paris Champs-Élysées on July 23, 2017 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
    Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    The 2018 Tour de France gets under way on Saturday with a 201-kilometre flat stage from Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile to Fontenay-le-Comte. 

    Defending champion Chris Froome will line up as the strong favourite after three Grand Tour wins on the bounce. He also saw an anti-doping investigation into his use of asthma drug salbutamol dropped in the week before the race, per BBC Sport.

    The Englishman is going for his fifth Tour de France win and will be tough to beat. His extraordinary triumph at the Giro d'Italia back in May means he holds all three Grand Tours at the same time, and is enjoying a quite spectacular run of form.

    This year's Tour will cover 3,351 kilometres and, aside from a 15-kilometre foray into Spain on Stage 16, takes place exclusively in France.

    See below for a video tour of all 21 stages:

    Tour de France 2018: Prize Money, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Full Stage Info
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    An in-depth look at every stage and a full schedule can be found on the Tour's official website.

    Eurosport and ITV4 will show live action of every stage for UK viewers. Meanwhile, viewers in the United States will be able to follow the race via NBC Sports. 

    Whoever rides into Paris on July 29 wearing the yellow jersey and is crowned winner of the 2018 Tour de France will take home €500,000 (£443,000) from a prize pot worth over €2 million (£1.8 million). 

    Michelle Arthurs-Brennan of Cycling Weekly provided a full breakdown of the remuneration at the Tour. 

    It will come as something of a surprise if it is not Froome, 33, walking away with top prize after Stage 21, but in the world of Grand Tour cycling nothing is guaranteed.

    The only year in the last five when the Team Sky man has not won the Tour was 2014, when Vincenzo Nibali finished in yellow.

    Froome had to abandon that edition of the Tour on Stage Five and Richie Porte stepped into the role of team leader for Sky.

    ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 20: Richie Porte of Australia and BMC Racing Team competes during stage five of the 2018 Tour Down Under on January 20, 2018 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
    Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

    Now riding for BMC, Australian Porte should be a key competitor for Froome in the general classification this year.

    Rigoberto Uran and Romain Bardet completed the podium behind Froome last year and will again be eager to compete for the yellow jersey, as will Movistar's Nairo Quintana.

    The Colombian's team-mate, Mikel Landa, could also be in the mix having spent the last two Tours riding as a domestique for Froome at Team Sky.

    However, Froome and Sky have been dominant in the race over the last few years and the likes of Porte, Uran, Landa, Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin and Mitchelton–Scott's Adam Yates will need to be at their best if they are to challenge this year.