This year the race jumps right into it with a short ITT for the first stage in Monaco. That should be a great backdrop. The favorites will emerge right away.
Back by popular demand, I think, is a TTT on stage 4. That should knock several riders from weaker teams out of contention. If you're a rider with a bright orange jersey, my guess is you weren't happy about the TTT.
Stage 20 has a mountain top finish on Mount Ventoux.
I'll be rooting for Carlos Sastre and Vande Velde this year. It's going to be interesting to see how Astana plays its cards, and of course, to see how Armstrong does after a long break from competition.
Most of all, I'll keep my fingers crossed that there are no doping scandals. Last year came pretty close to snuffing out my interest in pro cycling.
Here's a link about the Marked Men of this year's tour.
2 comments:
Well, an alternative thought is that as long as they catch people, the controls work. If no one gets caught, is it because no one is using or because the controls can not catch the latest "product"?
If you think about it, if Ricco(and others)had not been caught with an "un-detectable" drug, we would think it was a clean race. I would rather know they were caught.
Just my $.02
True, true. I'd rather the cheats get caught than slip through the cracks. It seems like the blood profiling is a real solution to the problem. Even if there's a substance that's undetectable, any performance enhancing effect will be caught.
The thing that got me last year is it seems there is an endless supply of idiots like Ricco or Kohl. I was really pulling for Kohl last year. When he fell on the ground after one of the mountain finishes last year, I was thinking it was proof he was clean. When he was busted, that was a slap in the face.
In spite of that, I'm fired up about the Tour again this year no matter what.
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