One of the most open editions of the Tour de France in decades will resume on Tuesday with only 39 seconds separating five riders between second and sixth, all of them breathing down the necks of what appears to be a fading Julian Alaphilippe.

With so much focus on defending champion Geraint Thomas' time losses and the emerging French challenge, Steven Kruijswijk has managed to fly a little under the radar despite sitting just 12 seconds behind the Welshman.

Jumbo-Visma, despite losing Wout Van Aert to a crash and splitting their priorities between Kruijswijk and sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, have looked the strongest team in the mountains and Kruijswijk has been impressive if not explosive.

The 32-year-old Dutchman has finished fourth in the Giro and the Vuelta before amid a series of good results, but has never managed a Grand Tour podium.

Sommieres, France. 22nd July 2019

1. 00:00 Steven Kruijswijk at news conference

2. 00:07 Cutaway of Kruijswijk

3. 00:17 SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Kruijswijk, Jumbo-Visma

"All of them are quite hard and give a lot of opportunities but I have to say the further you come into the race, the fatigue will play a more important role. Especially the last day, it's a really hard stage the last Saturday and the final climb is 31 kilometres long and it's a horrible climb and I think if you look in the morning at the General Classification it's still not decided Saturday morning and we will see a great race on Saturday in the afternoon."

4. 01:00 SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Kruijswijk, Jumbo-Visma

"The last three stages we went for 10 days there (and) we stayed in Tignes and that final climb I did like seven or eight times I think. So that won't have any surprise for me. The other stages we saw one time but that's enough for me. Especially at this stage which finishes in Tigne and you go 2700 metres of altitude and that's going to be a really hard stage. It's a long uphill climb, fast descent and then again a hard finish. Hopefully (it'll be) my day."

5. 02:01 Cutaway of Kruijswijk

6. 02:10 SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Steven Kruijswijk, Jumbo-Visma

+++For our Dutch-speaking clients+++

7. 02:51 SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Steven Kruijswijk, Jumbo-Visma

+++For our Dutch-speaking clients+++