Preview: Tour de France tries to come out of Lance's shadow

By Siegfried Mortkowitz Jun 27, 2006, 12:57 GMT

The members of the Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team pose just before leaving to France in Bilbao, northern Spain, Monday 26 June 2006. The Tour de France cycling tour will start on 01 July 2006. Some outstanding Spanish cycling athletes are being investigated since last month aspart of a police operation against doping. EPA/LUIS TEJIDO

Paris - The 2006 Tour de France, which begins Saturday in Strasbourg, opens a new chapter in the world's most prestigious cycling race, the post-Lance Armstrong era.

But the race begins under the cloud of a doping scandal and it may not be until later in the week until it is known whether all favourites will be present.

Tour organizers tossed out the Spanish Comunidad Valenciana team and have asked the Astana team of Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov to stay away from the race because of their implication in a growing doping affair in Spain.

The name of 1997 Tour champion German Jan Ullrich has also been mentioned in the probe.

Vinokourov and Ullrich are among those who want to become the heir to Armstrong, who, for better or worse, ruled over the Tour de France since 1999, winning the race a record seven consecutive times before retiring from cycling last year.

With his rigorous training methods, his strategy, his cold ambition and his manner of attacking the race itself, Armstrong turned the Tour into a single-minded crusade and re-defined the way the race is ridden.

But Armstrong's supremacy also deadened the suspense of the competition and left behind a lingering suspicion that it may have depended on the use of illegal substances.

This year's Tour de France will attempt to shake off his ambiguous legacy, by creating new heroes and re-instilling suspense in the race.

In these regards, much rests on the shoulders of last year's also-rans, Italian Ivan Basso and Ullrich.

An excellent time trial rider and a strong climber, the 28-year-old Basso finished third in the 2004 Tour, second last year and won this year's Giro d'Italia by more than 9 minutes.

'It was not easy to conserve the form from the Giro, but we have worked hard on that,' he said.

Should the leader of the Danish CSC team become the first rider since his late compatriot Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro-Tour double, he will have gone a long way to erasing Armstrong's shadow from the race.

Basso's primary rival is expected to be Ullrich, who has laboured long to shed the designation of 'primary rival.' Although he won the Tour in 1997, the 32-year-old native of Rostock may well go down in Tour history as the perpetual also-ran.

In 1998, he finished second to Pantani before becoming bridesmaid to Armstrong the next four years. Often criticized for his casual attitude to training, Ullrich seems determined this year to taste triumph again, boosted by a Tour de Suisse title in mid-June.

'(My form) is very good,' Ullrich said. 'The Tour de Suisse was the right event for the final preparation and victory there was the icing on the cake. But I hope I can improve even more.'

Ullrich also insisted that Basso won't have as easy a ride as he had in Italy in May.

'The riders are stronger at the Tour. The riding is different and much faster. Basso won't be able to dominate in the same way. I for instance will try to prevent that,' said Ullrich.

While almost all cycling observers expect Basso and Ullrich to decide the race between them, surprises could come from several sources.

The biggest shock could come from 26-year-old Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who won a Tour stage last year and impressed observers with his strength in the mountains before dropping out of the race.

Valverde, who rides for the French Caisse d'Epargne team, had an excellent spring, winning two one-day races and a number of individual stages in other races.

Other riders who could threaten the top two include Vinokourov, who finished third in 2003 and fifth last year; Armstrong's former lieutenant, American Floyd Landis, now riding for the Swiss Phonak team; Spaniard Iban Mayo, a strong climber; American Levi Leipheimer, who finished sixth last year and won the prestigious Dauphine Libere in spring; and Russian Denis Menchov.

The race itself will be run counter-clockwise, and its 3,657 kilometres will pass through four countries. With three mountaintop finishes, it appears to favour the strong climbers, such as Basso and Mayo.

However, if Ullrich - who also climbs well - is able to stay close to the leaders, the individual time trial on the next-to-last day could provide him with victory.

'Everything will be decided in the last week of the race,' Basso said, referring to the three arduous stages in the Alps and the July 22 time trial over 57 kilometres.