2007 Tour de France preview

Jul 2, 2007, 15:12 GMT

After the Tour's grand opening in London, the race sends riders to north France. From Dunkerque, France, sprinters are tested by five relatively flat stages before reaching Bourg-en-Bresse and four days in the Alps. Then in southeast France, riders reach Tallard at stage 10 for two stages of flat riding before heading into the Pyrenees Mountains for the next six days. When in Pau after the mountain stages, there are just four stages remaining, with the last stage entering Paris.

Last year, the start of the Tour de France was tainted by suspensions stemming from allegations of doping and ultimately a champion who apparently tested positive for synthetic testosterone.

Gone are the days of Lance Armstrong's dominating seven-year run as champion. In 2006, another American, Floyd Landis, disgraced the sport with his reported positive doping test after winning the race. However, Landis has continued to proclaim his innocence and has even written a book about his 2006 journey as race champion entitled, 'Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France.'

Landis was forced to withdraw from the this year's race and was awaiting a decision from an arbitration panel on whether his victory will stand.

Fast forward a year and you'll find the cycling's governing body has been trying to rid doping from the sport. The International Cycling Union created a program by having riders sign a declaration before the race to confirm they are not using any performance enhancing drug.

The Operation Puerto doping case left high-profile riders such as Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso out of last year's event. Ullrich retired earlier this year. Basso, the 2006 Giro d'Italia champion, was given a two-year doping ban by the Italian cycling federation on June 15 and is out of the Tour de France for this and next year.

Denmark's Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France winner, admitted to doping during his days as one of the world's top cyclists.

Although doping will certainly be a major topic discussed at this year's race, the competition for a new champion is plentiful.

Alexandre Vinokourov, a 33-year-old from Kazakhstan, is considered the favorite. Racing this year for team Astana, 'Vino,' as he is nicknamed, was third in this race in 2003 and fifth in 2005. He was forced to miss last year's Tour de France because the cycling team he was with had to withdraw after five of its riders were implicated in the Operation Puerto doping case. Vinokourov was never accused or implicated in regard to the scandal.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde, who has two silver medals and a bronze at world championship road races, is also a strong contender as the head of team Caisse d'pargne. The 27-year-old had some hard luck last year, fracturing his right collarbone during the third stage of the Tour de France, forcing him out of the race. Considered one of the best climbers, Valverde could prove tough in the mountains.

Andreas Kloden of Germany was third overall in last year's Tour de France and is also riding for Team Astana.

Carlos Sastre, another Spanish rider, came in fourth last year and is also one who could make his way to the front early. He could steal some more stages and could put pressure on riders if he does well in the individual time trials, where he had trouble in 2006. He leads team CSC, which also consists of Stuart O'Grady and David Zabriskie entered into this year's race.

Russian Denis Menchov and Australian Michael Rogers are two others to watch out for this year. Menchov, cycling for team Rabobank, came in sixth last year, while Rogers was ninth.

Levi Leipheimer of Butte, Montana will head the Discovery Channel cycling team, the same squad that was once led by Armstrong. Leipheimer came in 11th place last year. Teammate Alberto Contador will also have to be watched closely as will Discovery's George Hincapie.

Some of the top sprinters to look out for will be Australian Robbie McEwen, Germans Stefan Schummacher and Erik Zabel. McEwen won three stages last year.

© 2007 The Sports Network