It's that time of year again..
Three weeks of the toughest sporting event in the world is about to kick off tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to this year's tour as the General Classification (aka le maillot jeune) is very open and has the added interest of the returning Lance Armstrong. The question is whether he'll be the main focus for Astana, his team, or whether they really are going to be supporting Alberto Contador this year. I think it will boil down as to who time trials the best in the first week, and then who copes with the mountain stages the best in the second - the mountain stages this year is especially tough as they'll be going through both the Alps and the Pyrenees. Other names to look out for: Carlos Sastre who won it last year, the Schleck brothers (especially the lovely Frank); Dennis Menchov who won the Giro d'Italia this year; and Cadel Evans who has twice finished second over the past two years.
The other interest for me this year is the growing reputation of Mark Cavendish, a 24 year old Manx man who has been taking the sprints by storm over the past year. Last year he won four stages in the Tour, a feat that only Tommy Simpson in the 1960s has been able to do as a rider from GB, and has also won four stages during this year's Giro, and has also won the prestigious Milano-San Remo Classic too this year. Cavendish is the favourite to win the Green jersey, despite the late entry of Tom Boonen, who is bloody lucky to be in the Tour at all considering his penchant for recreational drugs. So the question is with Cavendish is thus: will he see off the likes of Boonen over the three weeks? Will he survive the mountains and get to Paris for the first time - I believe he would have done so last year had he not pulled out in favour of what was in the end a fruitless journey to Beijing. Will he be the first British rider since Robert Millar who won the King of the Mountains in 1987 to win one of the Tour's coveted jerseys? If not this year, he will definitely win it in the near future - forget Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish is the best cyclist in the UK.
Oh my, it's going to be a cracker this year :D
The other interest for me this year is the growing reputation of Mark Cavendish, a 24 year old Manx man who has been taking the sprints by storm over the past year. Last year he won four stages in the Tour, a feat that only Tommy Simpson in the 1960s has been able to do as a rider from GB, and has also won four stages during this year's Giro, and has also won the prestigious Milano-San Remo Classic too this year. Cavendish is the favourite to win the Green jersey, despite the late entry of Tom Boonen, who is bloody lucky to be in the Tour at all considering his penchant for recreational drugs. So the question is with Cavendish is thus: will he see off the likes of Boonen over the three weeks? Will he survive the mountains and get to Paris for the first time - I believe he would have done so last year had he not pulled out in favour of what was in the end a fruitless journey to Beijing. Will he be the first British rider since Robert Millar who won the King of the Mountains in 1987 to win one of the Tour's coveted jerseys? If not this year, he will definitely win it in the near future - forget Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish is the best cyclist in the UK.
Oh my, it's going to be a cracker this year :D