It's that time of year again. It's the first weekend of July which means it's the start of the Tour de France. As always, the tour will have a different route: this time starting from the Passage du Gois (passageway that connects the Island of Noirmoutier to the mainland of France) and makes it's way to Paris in a course of 3 weeks, passing through the Pyrenees and the Alps along the way. This year's tour will emphasize on the Alps, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the peaks featured on the tour.
The first week of the tour will focus on the sprinters as they will run on flat stages. This year, flat stages will only have 1 intermediate sprint per stage which will be big for the sprinters like Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen & Alessandro Petacchi to contend for the Green Jersey. The first rider to cross the line will receive 20 points and the first 15 riders will each score points. Also points at each stage finish will increase from 35 to 45 so these stages will be crucial.
In the middle of the second week, the tour will enter the Pyrenees, which will be factors in shaping up who will contend for the Yellow Jersey and win the championship. However, it won't be easy as the riders will have to climb Luz Ardiden, Plateau de Beille & the Col de Tourmalet during a 3-day stretch. There are also new rules for the mountains classification. For High Climbs and Category 1-3, only the first 6 riders to reach the summit will score points and as far as Category 4 climbs, only the first rider will make points. Double points will be awarded at the summit finishes on this year's tour which will also be huge for riders if they want to claim a polka-dot Jersey.
The third week of the tour will be focused on the Alps, including a brief stop in Italy. Riders will have to climb the Col du Galibier twice in back-to-back days and the mountaintop finish on L'Alpe d'Huez will most-likely decide the winner of the 2011 tour. If the results are still close, the time trial in Grenoble on the second to last day will crown the winner. The tour ends on July 24th on the Champs-Elysses.
As far as tour favorites go, you can't count out Alberto Contador (formerly with Team Astana, now with Saxo Bank) who already has 3 champions in the Tour de France and won this year's Giro d'Italia. Two-time tour runner-up Andy Schleck is also a favorite who could smell victory, but had chain issues on a mountain-climb in 2010 prevented him to win. Schleck and his brother Frank, now with newly-formed Leopard True Racing will look to fight for competition. Other favorites include Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and Samuel Sanchez. Lance Armstrong will not compete in the tour, neither will past-tour favorite Denis Menchov, who's Geox-TMC team was not invited to participate, as well as 2008 winner Carlos Sastre. As far as the sprinters go, I'm taking Tom Boonen to pull off an upset and win another Green Jersey, but he will have to compete against Mark Cavendish, who has won 11 stages in the last 2 years.
AUTO RACING PREVIEW
With the IndyCar & Formula One series having the weekend off, the racing-world focuses on Daytona International Speedway, where both the NASCAR Cup & Nationwide series will race this weekend. In February, we saw lots of 2-car drafting and that will be the case again this weekend. Any one of 43 cars can be favorites and the field is wide-open. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 and is back this weekend to sweep Daytona. This time, the race is 400 miles long and takes place on a Saturday night. Tony Stewart had issues in Sonoma and had a 39th place finish and his 1st DNF ever on a road-course. I'm taking Stewart to have better luck and win the July Daytona race for the 4th time.
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