Here we are again, that time of year when the worlds greatest annual sporting event takes place.
This race is getting bigger and every year. The organisers have been continually tweaking the format, created brilliant stages and taken a tough stance on drugs. As a result we have had carefully constructed stages and with changes such as the removal of time bonuses things have been very tight - just ask Cadel Evans. This year the Team Time Trial has been removed (again) and we have cobbled stages for the first time in years. The race also marks the 100 year anniversary of the first mountain climbs in the tour so the route pays homage to that with some historic climbs.
The Route.
Starting in Rotterdam on July 3rd the Tour moves from Holland to Belgium and into France by the end of stage 4
This year the tour features:
2 Individual Time Trials (8.9km prolouge and 52km stage 19)
9 Flat Stages
4 Intermediate Stages
6 Mountain Stages (3 hill top finishes)
The year we again see a reduction in the amount of time trials. With no Team Time Trial and only 61km of ITT it is the shortest amount of time trialing in the tour since World War II. Race organiser Christian Prudhomme is working to negate the advantage of the strong time trialers and reduce the gaps between the competitors - it really will come down to team tactics on the flat and intermediate stages and who is strongest in the mountains.
The first week of the Tour de France rarely sees major, race-deciding time gaps created between the overall contenders. But this year things could be very different because of the inclusion of cobbles on stage three in northern France and Belgium. Last year we saw the carnage that wind can bring to the peloton when Lance almost helped himself to a yellow jersey. This year we go through the flat windswept Netherlands with thin roads that caused multiple falls int he Giro, then a sojourn into Belgium that will see the riders tackle cobble stones.
The Tour riders will have to race over a total of 13.150km of cobbles divided into seven sections, most of which are squeezed into the final 30km of the 213km stage from Wanze in Belgium, to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut. The stage finishes at the entrance to the legendary Forest of Arenberg section of cobbles that is used in Paris-Roubaix. Cobbles break bikes and break hearts. Some overall candidates will be advantaged (Schleck) and others you would think you be at a disadvantage (Contador).
As Robbie McEwen has said "At Paris-Roubaix there is a natural selection of the rider who actually wants to ride on the pave and who knows how to ride on it. Then in the race there's the natural selection of the race too. At the Tour we'll have the classics riders wanting to win the stage, the overall contenders trying to make sure they don’t lose time and then all their domestiques, some who won't have a clue about the cobbles, doing everything they can to help them. It's going to be carnage."
You can be sure that this will be a first week different than normal.
The cobble stones awaiting the riders on the 2010 Tour.
As i said before the organisers have designed course that celebrates 100 years of 'high' mountains in Le Tour.
Back in 1910, when Tour director Henri Desgranges sent his assistant, Alphonse Stienes, to check out the climbs in the Pyrenees, it was mid-winter and the roads were choked with snow. Stienes crossed the Tourmalet, but on foot, late at night and when the search party found him the next morning and brought him to safety, he reported back to Desgranges that the climb was perfectly passable.
The first ever mountain stage was a 289km romp from Perpignan on the Mediterranean Sea to Luchon, including the Col du Port, Col du Portet d'Aspet and Col des Ares. After a rest day, that was followed by the 326km stage from Luchon to Bayonne on the Atlantic Ocean crossing the Col de Peyresourde, Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and the Col d'Aubisque. These four passes were nicknamed the "Circle of Death". Given the conditions of the roads and bicycles at the time, the named seemed completely appropriate.
Race organizers were interested in to see if any racer could ride over all four passes. Their question was answered when 1910 winner Octavio Lapize appeared near the top of the final climb, the Aubisque, pushing his bike. He famously shouted 'assassins' at the race organizers witnessing his plight.
To pay homage to those first two mountain stages, the race organizers have included all the critical elements of those historic routes. For 2010, stage 15 includes the Portet d'Aspet and the Col des Ares, but also adds the difficult Port de Bales before the fast, downhill run into Luchon after 187km of racing.
Stage 16 crosses the "Circle of Death" and finishes its 196km course in Pau. This is a supremely difficult stage, but it is 58km from the top of the Aubisque to Pau. Unless this stage is ridden at a moderate tempo, it is not likely that the overall contenders will have many teammates to neutralize any breakaways. Cooperation among competitors will most likely be required if anybody dangerous does get up the road.
These two stages highlight four tough days in the Pyrenees during the last week that will most undoubtedly shape the 2010 Tour much like the final week in the Alps in 2009. The upside is that those alpine stages last year provided almost endless drama and were in stark contrast to the first two weeks which could best be described as 'tactical.' The early part of this years race should ensure that things heat up early.
The Competitors
Seven time winner Lance Armstrong saddles up again against dual winner and heir apparent Alberto Contador . Then there are the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank who worked so well against Astana last year. Andy went close but has returned this year with the race as his primary focus. They are joined in the field by past TdF winner Carlos Sastre as well as multiple podium finisher and dual Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso (returns after a four year absence), dual Vuelta a Espana winner, Giro d'Italia winner and past podium finisher Denis Menchov, World Champion and twice runner up Cadel Evans, Andreas Kloden (who has also finished second here twice) Triple world TT champ Mick Rogers, past podium finishers Alexander Vinokourov and Levi Leipheimer, last years revelation Brad Wiggins and a host of young guns like Kreuziger, Nibali and Gesink looking to make their mark.Mark Cavendish is set to resume hostilities with Thor Hushovd who won the green jersey in controversial circumstances last year, and Tyler Farrar who has been the in form sprinter this year to date.
Over the next week, Mattopia will preview all the teams, the leading contenders for each jersey, the Aussies and of course we will have a stage by stage preview with results.
Check back daily as the build up to the tour begins!
