The Tour de France
The Tour de France, the world’s biggest cycling race, starts Saturday 4 July, covering Spain, Andorra, Switzerland, Italy and, of course, France John Hillman looks at this year’s big race, which promises more excitement than ever
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The 96th Tour de France begins on July 4 in Monaco and finishes along the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 26. During that time the cyclists will cover 3,500 kilometres (2,150 miles) over a combination of both flat and mountainous terrain.
The race moves quickly through the countryside, from small medieval town to high altitude mountain pass to the cobbled city streets of Paris. If you want to keep up then the only way is by car, so book now with P&O Ferries and make sure you don’t miss any of the action.
Tour de France 2009; who to watch out for:
Blood, sweat and tears, a common enough phrase, fortunately not one I’m forced to apply to my own life too often. But watch the Tour de France and you see people who have embraced these words as ideals; simple stages to aspire to as they pull and push their way, metre by painful meter, all the way to the finishing line.
Harried, mud splattered, adrenalin racing through their bodies, their hearts threatening to burst up through their mouths and onto the scorched tarmac of the French countryside, and all in pursuit of a simple bright coloured jersey. Well, that and glorious sporting immortality.
This year’s event is dominated by the news that US cycling legend Lance Armstrong is back after a four year absence and threatening to take an eighth Tour de France title at the ripe old age of 37. His Astana team mate, Spain’s Alberto Contador, is also one of the favourites so the racing world will be watching to see what happens there.
Will Armstrong give way for the good of the team at the expense of an eighth title, if ordered to? Dubbed the most competitive man in the history of sport, many think he simply won’t be able to do it, so this could lead to some high drama towards the end of the race.
Sporting patriots amongst you should be looking out for Britain’s Mark Cavendish, winner of four stages last year and a genuine hope of becoming a British jersey winner for the first time since Robert Millar’s triumph back in the pre-internet days of 1987.
Other Brits on the tour to watch out for are Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and Charles Wegelius, meanwhile the force behind Britain’s Olympic winning cycling team will be out preparing the groundwork for a sustained British assault on the Tour in 2010.
The reigning champion, Carlos Sastre, is another hot-tip for glory, but expect the newspaper inches to be dominated by the box-office name of Lance Armstrong. When it comes to the crunch there just isn’t anyone in world racing with more of a story to tell.
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image credit: Joe Shlabotnik
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