Tour de France gets underway on Saturday
larger | smaller
By h.b. - Jul 3, 2009 - 8:10 AM
Spaniards have dominated the race for the past three years, but this year Lance Armstrong is back

Spain has dominated the Tour de France cycle race for the past three years. Carlos Sastre is the current champion, Alberto Contador won in 2007, and Óscar Pereiro in 2006, and preparations are now well underway in Monaco for the start of the 96th edition of the race on Saturday.

Those three years saw the absence of one certain Lance Armstrong, who is back out of retirement this year and challenging again. He won the race six times from 1999 onwards but is not the favourite this time, with that honour going to his Astana teammate Contador. Others expect a good performance from the Australian mountain expert Cadel Evans.

One Spaniard who will not be racing is Alejandro Valverde, who has been banned by Italy from racing in the country because of drugs allegations, and this year, the Tour de France crosses into Italy.

Click here for related stories

 mobile |  email this article |  printer friendly page

 del.icio.us |  digg |  technorati |  yahoo | Stumble It!
Facebook | Reddit | Newsvine | Meneame | Wikio
Blink | Google | Fresqui | MSN reporters | Live Spaces
My Space | Fark | Mixx | Twitter

Spain Sports News

Readers' comments:
Please keep to the subject. Opinions published here are of our visitors, not the Typically Spanish team. Comments which go against Spanish laws or which are libellous are not allowed. We reserve the right to delete any comment we wish. Placing a comment indicates you have read our terms and conditions and privacy policy .

Por favor, céntrate en el tema. Son las opiniones de los internautas, y no las de Typically Spanish. No está permitido verter comentarios contrarios a las leyes españolas o injuriantes. Reservado el derecho a eliminar los comentarios que consideremos fuera de tema. Escribir un comentario indica que has leído nuestros condiciones de uso y politica de privacidad .