I had thought that they went down to 8 riders this year but you're right, it looks like that's next year.

I heard on the broadcast today (or maybe yesterday) that FDJ was down to only 4 riders left this year...

Everyone is so jacked on drugs that the key stages can still be dominated by a eight riders. Seven would have been better.

The thing the Tour needs is stages similar to those in the Giro and Vuelta. Even if Froome was in trouble, the subsequent stages did not offer the opportunity to take advantage of it.