Only a few short days away from the beginning of the world’s greatest sporting event (says us), the Tour De France.
So what's getting us worked up this time round?
Firstly, doping. The scandals of drug use in professional cycling is seemingly never ending and this year there has been the usual raft of suspensions, outright bans, confessions and denials. It’s a sad aspect of the sport but it is better in the open than behind closed doors as occurs in almost every sport. With this years tour supposedly the most tested event ever, we're betting we'll see more riders caught out, but we're pretty satisfied that it is on the decrease from the EPO happy days. The lack of insane, impossible solo breakaways is testament to the increasing cleanliness of the peloton.
More importantly; unless you’ve been living in a cave you will have doubtless heard that Lance Armstrong is making his return to the Tour this year. He last rode (and won) in 2005 with seven consecutive wins to his name so unsurprisingly interest in his return to professional racing couldn’t be higher. How he’ll place is anyone’s guess, but his recent stonking Giro placing on the back of an injury bodes very well. Supposedly riding second fiddle to Astanta team leader Contador, we reckon that charade won't last much past the first time trial and Armstrong gets a sniff of Yellow.
With Astanta alone having enough general classification talent to win the entire podium, this should be the most competitive Tour in years.
British interest in the Tour has always been high(ish) but following the Olympics interest in cycling is exploding. Luckily with Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and Mark Cavendish riding there'll be plenty to cheer about. We now expect Cavendish to win any sprints his team can get him to. If he can drag himself over the mountains to Paris - expect fireworks and a possible Green Jersey.
This level of UK interest seems reflected in the fact that ITV will be covering this year’s tour, which means proper coverage on actual UK terrestrial TV, hopefully no more rushing home to see 20 minutes of coverage at either 6 o’clock or midnight.
If you’ve never paid the Tour de France any interest before then make 2009 the year you do. Not that it should really matter but it’s always nice to see a UK athlete beating the worlds best. Watching Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish is proper screaming at the telly stuff.
Our place on the sofa is booked, but not for long. We'll be out on our bikes pretending to be Lance in no time. But if you need any more reason to get yourself geed up, watch this video. Awesome stuff.
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