Just 48 more hours before the world's greatest race gets underway!
I will be supporting the Kenyan-born (and Johannesburg-raised) Chris Froome all the way in this year's Tour de France. The absence of last year's winner Bradley Wiggins is a bit of a double-edged sword . . . it means Froome won't have a valuable ally on his Sky team but it also means he won't have to worry about who is the team leader. Wiggins pledged to support Froome in this year's Tour after Froome did all the donkey-work for Wiggins last year, but just recently there were rumours that Wiggins was going to try to win for himself . . . but his injury in the Giro means that he's pulled out of the Tour and we'll never know if Wiggins was going to honour his commitment to Froome or not.
What a pity Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali isn't riding in the Tour because a showdown between him and Froome would have been a great contest but Nibali was obviously focussed on the Giro this year. In the absence of Nibali, Alberto Contador is a clear second-favourite for this year's event but I'm not convinced Contador has the form. I think Froome's main competition might come from the very consistent Jurgen van den Broek or else one of the new young guns like Tejay Van Garderen, Nairo Quintana or Thibaut Pinot . . . who should all be fighting it out for the White jersey.
I expect we'll see the usual suspects fighting it out for the Green jersey . . . Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel and last year's sprinting sensation Peter Sagan. I'm betting on Sagan to win the Green jersey again but I wouldn't bet against Cavendish winning the most stages.
If anyone is interested in a Tour de France Fantasy competition, there's one here that I'm playing in and I'll set up a pool if anyone else is interested.
Come on Chris Froome!!!
