Allez!
This Sunday witnesses the start of the largest sporting event on
the planet: Le Tour de
France.
There's an unusual feel to this year's event , with the
first stage taking place on the French south coast in Monaco. The
race then heads to Barcelona, over the Pyrenees, up to the Swiss
border, skirting Italy, then back to almost where they started
from, for a mountain-top finish at the legendary and infamous
Mont
Ventoux.
Those that remain for the final spin up the
Champs-Élysées on July 26th will have covered
3,500 km in 21 stages.
There will be many individual and team stories to emerge from this
year's race - there always are. Can Manxman Mark Cavendish build on
last year's successes? How will
Lance Armstrong manage as a support rider on his return to
the event?
Whatever happens on the road, tour organisers will be desperate
to avoid the doping
scandals that have hit the event in recent years. Little can
damage the reputation of an entire sport more than the most
prestigious event on the calendar being dragged through the mire -
again!
Hopefully, we can look forward to excellent racing that is
competitive and fiercely contested. But contested on the road not
in the lab.
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