Preview of le Tour

It’s the day before the start of the most prestigious race in cycling, and Tour fever is building up.

All around the world, cycling fans are buying their popcorn and race guides, settling in for the biggest three weeks of the year on the cycling calendar.  And as the excitement heats up, so do the possibilities, and this year’s race could go umpteen different ways.

First and foremost, there is the question of the Spaniard, Alberto Contador. A cloud hangs over the defending champion’s future after being implicated in a doping scandal at last year’s Tour de France.  The winner of the 2009 and 2010 maillot jaune is scheduled to ride the Tour for Team Saxobank-Sunguard, but if the conclusion to this nine-month affair goes down in the next three weeks, Contador could find himself out of the Tour and the race for the yellow jersey blown wide open.

This of course brings us to the question of who will win the maillot jaune?  While Contador is the premiere candidate to take out cycling’s most coveted prize, several other names are also on the shortlist, the most prominent being Andy Schleck.  The Luxembourg 26-year-old has won the white jersey (under-25 riders category) in the Tour for the past three years and was looking good for the major prize last year, until a controversial accident put Contador just ahead of him.  Even so, Schleck stunned the cycling world a few days later in the time trial, showing an improvement at the discipline and keeping pace with Alberto Contador in a stage where Contador was expected to consolidate his lead beyond all doubt.  It still wasn’t enough for Schleck, who came second for the second year in a row and took out his third white jersey instead.  With Contador’s future unstable and another’s year training under his belt, this may be the year where Andy makes his break.

Then, according to the Australian commentators at least, there’s also Cadel Evans to consider.  The Geelong boy who was the 2009 world road race champion has come second in the Tour twice and was leading last year’s Tour, until an early fall left him with a broken arm and cost him 10 minutes and the yellow jersey.  Despite this setback, Cadel has been in excellent form the past few years and after a more careful preparation for this year’s Tour, every Australian is asking the same question: will this year be Cadel’s year?

 

Also tipped as contenders for the top spot are Italian Tour veteran Ivan Basso, young Dutch rider Robert Gesink, now the leader of Team Rabobank at just 25, and the current Olympic champion, Spaniard Samuel Sanchez, as well as Andy’s older brother and teammate, Fränk Schleck.

The competition for the other jerseys is less notorious but every bit as fierce.  The white jersey is open for the first time in three years, with Andy Schleck finally out of contention, leaving Robert Gesink and Team Liquigas’ Roman Kreuziger as the two favourites.  The polka-dot King of the Mountain (climbing category) jersey is less certain, while the question of the green sprinter’s jersey comes down to whether the strategies of the “God of Thunder”, Norwegian Thor Hushovd or those of “Manx Missile”, Brit Mark Cavendish are better suited to the category.  All will be decided at the final stage in Paris, so until then, vive le Tour!