La Grande Boucle
This weekend the biggest show in cycling kicks off, the 2013 Tour de France! And it should be sensational – organisers ASO have put together a spectacular parcours for the 100th edition, starting in Corsica and ending three weeks (and some 3400km) later in Paris. This years is a particularly mountainous route, climbing some of the Tour's most iconic mountains, including Mont Ventoux, and the 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d'Huez (twice in the same day!).
Most are predicting it will come down to a battle between Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, and barring something quite unexpected or spectacular, or a disaster on either of their parts, it is hard to see someone else winning. But three weeks is a long time, and you just never know! Here at Pushbikes we are split in our opinion – some of us favour Contador, while others are gunning for Aussie Cadel Evans, believing he will clean up!
And a few other questions...
- can Mark Cavendish's pure speed beat Peter Sagan's versatility to the Green jersey?
- will a Frenchman win on Bastille Day up Mont Ventoux?
- will Andy Schleck actually be able to ride with the big boys?
- who will be this years breakout rider – maybe Nario Quintana from Movistar, Michal Kwiatkowski from Omega Pharma-QuickStep, or Andrew Talansky from Garmin-Sharp?
- by the end of the Tour will Evans still be the team leader at BMC, or will he have been overtaken by his young American team mate Tejay Van Garderen?
- can Kiwi Greg Henderson lead out team mate Andre Greipel to a few sprint stage wins?
- can reigning World Champion Philippe Gilbert finally get his first win of the season?
- and will anyone be stupid enough to try and dope and get away with it this year? (let's hope not!)
If you want to follow what happens, you can watch the Tour on Sky TV, or follow it through the official websitewww.letour.fror the likes ofwww.cyclingnews.com, or on the free Cyclingnews Tour Tracker App (available through the App Store or Google Play).
Enjoy and Vive le Tour!
