PowerPlay περιοδικό

Tour de France 2009 begins this Saturday, July 4 with a short individual time trial in Monaco. The racers will have to go through 21 demanding stages including 7 mountain stages, 2 individual time trials and one team time trial. After a few flat stages in the beginning the things will start shuffling in the seventh stage on the Spanish soil. The stage will start in Barcelona and finish in Arcalis in Andorra. The final moves will be made mainly in stage 18 which is a long time trial and finally the climb to Mont-Ventoux in the penultimate 20th stage. The champion will be crowned on July 26 in Paris.

The biggest question si how will the 7-time champion Lance Armstrong do. He is coming back to the French roads after a 3 year pause. Armstrong has shown his quality in the final stages of Giro d`Italia and he has also shown good form when he won the Nevada City Bicycle Classic. However, getting the 8th title will be harder than ever. There is a number of riders going for the yellow jersey.

The biggest odds-on favorite has to be Armstrong's teammate from Astana Alberto Contador, winner from two years ago. He has the best team to support him which includes several other favorites like Levi Leipheimer of USA, Andreas Klőden of Germany, Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine and Haimar Zubeldia of Spain. Contador has been named the leader of this team.

The defending champion Carlos Sastre riding for the Cervelo team will certainly want to come into the argument. His disadvantage is that he does not have such a strong team behind him. Cadel Evans has shown some good form at the Criterium Dauphiné Libéré. He knows what it's like to come in second from the prevoius 2 years and he would certainly like to go one better this year. The circle of favorites will also include Denis Menchov, who has the chance to win two Grand Tours in one year after winning the Giro. The last man to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season was Marco Pantani 11 years ago.

Some other riders will be trying to have their say in the general classification. Last year's 5th place finisher Christian Vandevelde, duo from Liquigas Roman Kreuziger and Vincenzo Nibali, the Schleck brothers from Saxo Bank, Kim Kirchen and Michael Rogers from team Columbia or the winner from 3 years ago Oscar Pereiro Sio.

This is our prediction for the top 15 of the General Classification:
1. Alberto Contador (ASTANA, ESP)
2. Cadel Evans (SILENCE-LOTTO, AUS)
3. Carlos Sastre (CERVELO TEST TEAM, ESP)
4. Lance Armstrong (ASTANA, USA)
5. Denis Menchov (RABOBANK, RUS)
6. Levi Leipheimer (ASTANA, USA)
7. Andy Schleck (SAXO BANK, LUX)
8. Christian Vandevelde (GARMIN SLIPSTREAM, USA)
9. Vincenzo Nibali (LIQUIGAS, ITA)
10. Roman Kreuziger (LIQUIGAS, CZE)
11. Andreas Klőden (ASTANA, GER)
12. Frank Schleck (SAXO BANK, LUX)
13. Michael Rogers (COLUMBIA, AUS)
14. Kim Kirchen (COLUMBIA, LUX)
15. Oscar Pereiro Sio (CAISSE D`EPARGNE, ESP)

We could see some surprises from the likes of Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre), Linus Gerdemann (Milram), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Yaroslav Popovych (Astana). The French crowd might have to place their hopes into David Moncoutie.

The battle for the green jersey in the points competition will also be something to watch out for. Mark Cavendish of Columbia will be the main favorite among the sprinters. He is by far the fastest sprinter in the PRO tour at the moment. However, it is questionable whether he can cross the mountains and see the finish line in Paris. The Spanish rider Oscar Freire racing for Rabobank has won the green jersey last year but he will have to deal with the Norwegian Thor Hushovd from Cervelo. Other names include Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Gerald Ciolek (Milram). Sprinters like Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo), Danilo Napolitano (Katusha), Stuart O`Grady (Saxo Bank) a the Garmin Slipstream duo Julian Dean and Tyler Farrar will also be involved in the battles for stage wins.

Fabian Cancellara, the winner of Tour de Suisse, will have the chance to wear the yellow jersey in the initial stages stages. To achieve that, he must win the opening time trial in Monaco. The favorites to win one of the time trials should include David Millar and David Zabriskie from Garmin Slipstream, Tony Martin from Columbia and Thomas Dekker from Silence-Lotto.

We could also see some action regarding breakaways from riders like Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) or the trio from Katusha Ivanov, Ignatiev and Rippoli in the second half of the Tour in the undulating stages between the Pyrenees and the Alps.