Cycling world geared up for Tour de France
The 97th Tour de France will start tomorrow, beginning with a prologue in Rotterdam and ending in Paris on the Champs-Élysées on July 25th.
As the most gruelling event on the cycling calendar, a total of 3,642 kilometres will be cycled over 20 stages consisting of flat and hilly roads, and medium and high mountain stages.
Rotterdam will host the start of the Tour and the return of the prologue after a two-year absence from the event. It is a fitting occasion as the Netherlands hosted the first foreign start for the Tour 56 years ago.
With a distance of 8.9km, the prologue is suited to the riders who are specialists in the long pursuit races with Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins prime candidates to win.
There are several contenders for the yellow jersey, and the main one is Alberto Contador (pictured), winner of the Tour last year. The overwhelming favourite for this year’s race made it his second triumph in three years, and once again will be riding for the Astana team. The Spaniard was teammates with seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong in 2009, but a strained relationship saw the latter leave and form his own team. This year, Contador is the main man for Astana, and is enjoying it.
“I like my freedom. I like having the possibility to follow my own intuition. I know that in 2010, my team will be loyal, ready to make sacrifices so that I can win another Tour de France. I have no doubt about it,” he said.
The 27-year-old had the limelight taken off him last year as Armstrong made a return from retirement. This year, he will have Alexander Vinokourov as his support. “Alexander Vinokourov is a champion, a great rider who will bring me his experience,” Contador said.
Armstrong has said Contador is the man to beat, but the Spaniard, nicknamed El Pistolero, has refused to acknowledge this. “If he thinks of me that way, it is a mistake because nobody is unbeatable.”
Contador added: "It will be a nervous race in the first week with the stages in the Netherlands and Belgium, and the cobbles. But I won't lose sleep over it. I have a great deal of respect for these cobbles. I will have to be fully focused but there will be more important stages.”
Standing between Contador and a third Tour victory is Armstrong, who has announced this year’s Tour will be his last. With a record seven wins to his name, he prepared well for the event by finishing second in the Tour de Suisse to winner Fränk Schleck. The 38-year-old surprised many by finishing third last year, and the American has his eyes set on an eighth Tour victory.
“Third in Luxembourg, second in Switzerland, I'll do the math for the next race. All I have to do now is stay healthy and find that extra one per cent. This race [in Switzerland] attracted all sorts of favourites and it's a good indication of what's coming up,” he said.
Britain’s hopes rest on the shoulders of Bradley Wiggins. Riding for Team Sky this year, Wiggins will be leader of the first British team to compete since 1987. As a gold-medal winning track cyclist, Wiggins surprised many last year by doing so well in his maiden Tour. His fourth-place finish matched the best achievement by a British rider since Robert Millar in 1984.
“To be honest it is the only race that matters. You could win 100 races in a season and do nothing in the Tour... well, the other races are important and are important for the team but the Tour is what we are going to be judged on. People would have laughed if I said I'd come fourth in the Tour - they did laugh actually - but I know what I'm capable of now,” said Wiggins, for whom a Tour victory would mean more to Wiggins than his Olympic medals. “I think it would be a bigger achievement, especially in cycling. However doing both would also be special,” he said.
The 30-year-old is not feeling the pressure this year despite last year’s perfromance. “I still feel I've got nothing to lose. If I get on the podium, people will say I just got on the podium, if I fail miserably, I'll fail miserably. I'm relaxed at the moment and going out there convinced to do the best I can.
"It's not a life and death situation, it's just sport, I actually enjoy it. Mentally the Tour de France is easy compared to an Olympic final when you're 50 seconds away from the start. Of course physically it's much harder because it's much longer. But if you can conquer it mentally, it will stand you in good stead physically,” said Wiggins.
Last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck, younger brother of Fränk , provides the challenge outside of Contador and Armstrong. The 25-year-old won the National Time Trial Championship in his home country of Luxembourg, and only in his sixth year as a professional rider, he stands a good chance. “I've sacrificed a lot for the Tour and I feel ready. The route is harder in this year's Tour and I could get a better chance of winning time in the mountains and lose less time on the long time trial,” he said.
Schleck has great versatility as a rider, but if he wants to win his first Grand Tour title, he has to keep up with Contador and Armstrong in the early stages of the race. He is twice a winner of the Tour’s young rider classification, and finished second in the Giro d’Italia in 2007.
Fränk will partner Andy for Team Saxo Bank. Fränk has finished fifth in the last two Tours. He won the Tour de Suisse and finished second in the Tour de Luxembourg. “I surprised myself because I'm not a time trial specialist. Winning here so close to the Tour de France means a lot to me,” he said after his Tour de Suisse win. The 30-year-old is experienced enough to mount a challenge.
Italian Ivan Basso won the Giro d’Italia for the second time in his career in May. Basso is a strong climber, so he will be threatening on the hilly roads and the mountain stages. Basso returns to the Tour after five years, when he finished second in 2005. He is going for a Giro and Tour double in the same year, not done since Marco Pantini in 1998. “I'm happy with my form. I realise how difficult the Tour is but I think I can be competitive. I want to battle until [the finish line in] Paris - I'm not fixing any objective, the race will decide that,” said Basso.
Cadel Evans had a terrible Tour last year, finishing 30th. After consecutive second place finishes in 2008 and 2007, the Australian all-rounder has improved dramatically. He finished fifth in the Giro d’Italia, but he rode the course flat out, which was not the ideal way to prepare for the Tour de France. “In previous Tours - trying not to blame others - I have had to compete against teams that were a lot stronger. I look forward to seeing what we can do,” he said.
Russian rider Denis Menchov will be riding for Team Rabobank and is another contender. He won the 2009 Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Marcia. Last year’s placing of 51 in the Tour was a bitter disappointment after securing a podium in 2008. “Everything is more or less according to plan. Together with the team we decided to follow a program of quality racing in order to reach the ideal condition for the Tour. It meant not having the goal of winning at all costs in different races,” said Menchov.
As the strong contender, Contador would be hard to back against. Can anyone stop El Pistolero?
There will be a few gunning for him.
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