Former Tour de France stage winner Sean Yates describes a typical day in the life of a rider during the world's most gruelling race.

The Briton, who completed nine of the 12 Tours he rode in, uses this year's mountainous stage 16 as an example.

This 179km slog up over a number of major passes from Les Deux-Alpes to La Plagne in the French Alps features three of the toughest climbs, so called "beyond category" climbs which are too steep for classification:

• Col du Galibier: 33.7km at an average gradient of 4.7%
• Col de la Madelaine: 19.3km at 7.9%
• La Plagne: 17.3km at 7 %

The outfit is publicly-funded via its website and aims to race in the Tour de France within five years.

Visit iteamNova’s website to discover more about the team

Click on the links on the left to see what the riders are doing at any stage of the day.