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Unpredictable stage today, with a high average speed (46km/hour) during 178 km and the last category 2 climb, which mixed things up.

The most surprising was, indeed, the motivation of Mark Cavendish in this last climb. The English cyclist kept his head on and won his fifth final sprint after a suspenseful ride to the line.

I also think that Cavendish will want to mark this historical competition with a sixth stage victory in Paris and make his name legendary.

Lance Armstrong didn't get trapped in the break created during the descent towards Aubenas, contrary to all his rivals for the third place on the podium. He demonstrated today that he is still here thanks to his professionalism.

To me, the two first places on the podium seem reserved for Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck.

Sentimentally, Armstrong deserves the third place on the podium. In fact, the American brought so much to current cycling and could continue to pull the sport of cycling upward with this new podium.

However, the ultimate explanation will take place tomorrow on the slopes of the mythical Ventoux. The Tour de France is waiting for 500,000 spectators on the edge of the road of this last important stage.

My feeling today is that we enter again in a period of domination--with Cavendish, who is simply the fastest for the sprints, but also with Contador, who appears above everybody. Andy Shleck could be the only guy to perturb the Spanish champion, but he will have to work hard for that.

Tomorrow, see you on top!

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Events, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

I hope you were in front of your TV today as we have had the best stage of the year by far. What a day! The riders gave so much today. It was a strategic day and we were expecting to see some changes in the rankings after that day. It was money time.

My first “thank you” will go to Thor Hushovd for his incredible start with two climbs in first position and the green jersey almost secured for Paris. I got really impressed by how much he put into it. This is what I love to see. He really gave his best and got what he wanted!

With the largest audience recorded this year on the Tour de France, the riders had to run the show and my second “thank you” will go to Astana and Saxo Bank. They ran a great mano a mano between Alberto Contador and Andreas Kloden on one end and the Schleck brothers on the other end. What a ride! Everyone was giving his best and the first to go down was finally Kloden but that was a bit expected.

The big question was Franck Schleck who showed some fatigue yesterday. Today was another day and he showed the world that he and his brother are the biggest threats to Contador’s run for the yellow jersey. And they attacked right at the end on the last two climbs that were super hard. So it’s one more “thank you” for taking so much risk by attacking in the critical part. In the meantime, it was the only way to make a break...

Contador is still in great position to win this Tour and I think he will make it. The only doubt that remains comes from the Schleck brothers. They have one more stage to go to win the Tour. It’s the Ventoux on Saturday. If they go hard and Contador gets some problems (fatigue), then, Andy could win the Tour.

What a day! Tomorrow comes the time trial and we will see some great action again. That’s for sure because all the seats, except maybe the yellow jersey, are still wide open for many riders: Lance Armstrong is always around the corner, the Schleck seem to be on top of their game, etc.

This promises us a great finish for this Tour. It’s been some time since the Tour was so open like that and I’m very happy about it.

Well done guys and thank you for the show!

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

Today is a strange day for most riders. This is the second rest day...and it can be very special and there are two sides to it.

On one side, you have those super-tired riders who will be resting fully to save enough energy for tomorrow's tough race.

On the other side, you have those who are still racing for a good ranking. For them, it's all about keeping the momentum and making sure you don't get perturbed by anything. They will go for a short ride to sweat a bit and keep the feeling...

It's a tough day on both sides and there is no recipe to take good advantage of it. This is where experience plays a huge role

Talking about the rest day, we have to talk about tomorrow as it's also a very special day. We are going to have a short and super dynamic stage with two big climbs. It will be the perfect setting for the stars like Evans, Sastre, Schleck and, of course, Contador! I hope to see a great match up between Schleck and Contador. It's like a new generation taking over the Tour: dynamic, aggressive, talented and hungry for victory! Get ready for some great action tomorrow!

Yours in sport,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

I hope you were awake to watch today's stage as it was one of the best days of this week and probably of this year's Tour de France so far. It was intense; there was a lot of suspense and we got a hell of a finish with Contador.

So Contador wins today after a massive climb and he can finally wear the yellow jersey on Tuesday. I think he is now on the highway of success and I don't him see him losing the Tour unless something very unexpected happens (ie: crash, injury).

We were looking for some action today and got very pleased with the pace set by the peloton. The race went really fast and they were at the foot of Verbier a little earlier than we could have expected. It's funny because we didn't expect to have so much action today. It was really intense and everybody in the crowd were surprised that the riders went so fast.

Anyway, right when they started the climb, Contador decided to accelerate and only Andy Schleck was able to follow him for a while. It was impressive to see how fast Contador climbed Verbier today. I think he has definitely put some pressure on the other riders now. And right before the second rest day, it's a very good move. Riders will tend to think about it.

We all know that it's hard to be on top of your game when everyone is waiting for you to perform but by doing this nice move today, the pressure has now changed and for those who thought that Contador could fail under pressure, I can tell you now that he must feel much more comfortable than a few days ago.

We have also to congratulate Armstrong for his job so far. I wouldn't be surprised that we will see him in the top-five in Paris. When you think about it...what a comeback! What is it going to be next year when he will have had a full year of training and racing? I can't wait.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention on Andy Schleck who did an excellent stage, and even if he couldn't keep up with Contador, I keep on thinking that he would be a good runner-up in Paris. He has got the skills to climb and it looks like he is got the mental and freshness for the Alps. Keep an eye on him, I'm sure he will be exciting to watch.

Tomorrow is a rest day, but with today's action Tuesday promises a lot of fun!

I hope you enjoyed the race and stay tuned for more fun to come!

Yours in Sports,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

I made it. It is actually hard to put in words how much I have been looking forward to getting over here and witnessing the Tour de France. Two cameras, two computers and a huge dose of child-like glee are all sitting in a hotel in Besancon, waiting for the Garmin-powered RBA Car driven by Chris Henry to meet me here today.

It is strange to read some of the comments that this Tour has been boring and that everyone is waiting for the climbing to begin on Sunday into Verbier. They must be watching a different Tour. Here’s what I’ve seen so far:

The greatest American Tour de France cyclist in history coming back from almost 4-years off the bike to be sitting 8-seconds out of the lead in an attempt to win his 8th Tour de France. It truly is one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sport.  A visibly agitated Contador attacking on Arcalis during stage 7 hoping to help his team but also reminding the world he is the best stage racer in the field, by a long shot. Or is he?  Brice Feillu, Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fedrig bringing hope and victory to their native France. Cav’s complete domination with 4-stage wins with a hopeful Tyler Farrar nipping at his heals and a determined Thor Hushovd refusing to stay too far away from the green jersey which he now holds again.  And don’t forget the heroics of Bradley Wiggins, the potential of Christian Vande Velde and the inspiring and young, Nicolas Roche, chasing the ghost of his last name, while seeking to chart his own path in the peloton. Could you have predicted Rinaldo Nocentini would be in yellow for seven days? There are stories everywhere and there will be more. Yesterday as an emotional (who wouldn’t be?) Heinrich Haussler got the win, Oscar Friere and Julian Dean riders got shot with a bb gun? 

What will happen with Cadel? Does Levi’s sad departure change the Astana plan and give Andy Schleck and Carlos Sastre more room to attack and weaken the unfaltering Astana game plan. What is the Astana game plan by the way? I’m not convinced they have one and are as surprised as the rest of us at their numbers at the top of the standings.

Speaking of Sastre. He’s quiet and unpredictable and will attack and then attack again. Count on that.

Maybe it’s an American mindset, that we need things lined up perfectly, we want it all sorted out so we can change the channel and move on. We want the mountains to make sense of it all for us. Those mountains will sort it all out, the sacred climbs that I’ve been dreaming about seeing for years, but there is more than mountains in the 2009 Tour de France. This race is remarkably unpredictable, passionate and French. Things don’t go as planned, but if you take the time to wait, to be patient, to watch the details, to taste it all and relish in the stories, it becomes obvious why this is the greatest three weeks of the year.

Last night after dinner, jet-lagged and walking home, I caught a glimpse of a local crit running in Besancon. A bunch of young French racers, full of the anticipation that the Tour would be in their town the following afternoon, riding with a little extra kick and dreaming that some day they may be a part of the greatest race on earth.

We will continue to bring you the stories you expect to read, and hopefully some that you don’t. 

(Brad Roe is the editor of Road Bike Action magazine and will be writing about the Tour de France at www.roadbikeaction.com)

I would like to thank you for your comments on my post regarding the radio. I can see that this is something that makes people talk…and there are very good reasons why.

Back in the days when we didn’t have radios, you had three options to get info on the race:

• The crowd: it wasn’t the most accurate info you could get but it was very motivating and you are feeling much closer from the fans that the riders probably are today. I loved it and I’m sure that if you talk to any NFL players, they would tell you they love to hear the crowds!

• The “Ardoisier”: This is that funny guy on his motorcycle who gives you the gap between the echappée and the peloton. When you race, you always look for this guy. Today, they are really useless but tradition stands and we keep them on the course.

• Third and most safe option: the team manager and one of your teammates who would slow down to the race director’s car, collect the info and orders, and pedal back up in the peloton to tell his mates what to do. It was way less secure but we had much more open racing.

So the real question is: Do you enjoy predictable races like we have now? Do you like the fact that we can almost say at what second the peloton will make it back on the echappé and Cavendish will win the sprint?

I’m sure you don’t.

The reality is that cycling is not a technical sport. It’s an athletic-performance sport. Therefore, the peloton has never been more compact and consistent. There isn’t much difference between riders except for cycling icons like Armstrong, Contador or Cavendish on the sprint.

I remember the rivalry between Ulrich and Armstrong a few years ago. Back then, Ulrich was stronger than Armstrong but don’t get me wrong, Armstrong was still winning, wasn’t he? Why? Because he is just a smarter dude! Ulrich couldn’t get in the right echappée or get the right pace without his team manager.

Note also that in team sports like you talk about, you have team managers, coaches and players. In cycling, you go straight from team managers to players/riders. You don’t have a coach on the field. So it’s hard to compare sports that are not comparable.

Cycling is an old-school sport and it happens that it’s a lot more fun if you play it old school, without radios.

The more I think about this, the more I think that the idea of having only one guy in the team with a radio is the best option. The rider and the team get informed if there is any danger...and if the guy holding the radio gets one of his teammates in the echappée...we can’t control the échappée anymore and here comes the fun..

I will finish this post with today’s race that didn’t see Cavendish winning, surprisingly. The Columbia team looks very much out of shape and rode very slowly. I don’t know why and we are still trying to figure this out.

I guess Cavendish was a bit tired and the team decided not to launch on a sprint he wouldn’t win…just so he can keep his confidence up.

But what is funny about today is that the other teams are so stressed by the Columbia team, they are so scared that when Columbia didn’t ride hard, they layered their pace on them just to control Cavendish. It was funny to look at. Columbia is ruling the peloton this week.

Tomorrow will be rainy and hilly so I guess we will have an interesting day. I’m just hoping that we won’t get too many crashes. Will radios and team managers be able to prevent a rider from sliding on a slippery road? I doubt it...

Enjoy the show,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

It was another classic day on the Tour de France today and it should be like that until we hit the Alps now.

This second week of the Tour always makes wonder why we make it so long as we get to see over and over again the same scenario. It wasn't the case a few years ago but now, when stages are flat, we get an echappée and then a sprint won by Cavendish. I know it hasn't been like that all the time but since Cavendish is ruling the sprints, we can't expect much more from these stages.

You guys would think I'm playing the grumpy French guy here but I'm not. We have to recognize that Columbia has a great team for the flat stages and that they are really doing a great job at positioning Cavendish for the sprints. No doubt!

I'm just a bit disappointed that riders of other teams don't try more than what they do so far. I would expect to see them attacking a bit more, launching sprints or something about 1K from the finish line, just to destabilize Cavendish for example. If you bring him safely within the last 200m, you are 100 percent sure he is going to win. So, why not trying something else? I still wonder...

I feel like there is a tremendous lack of creativity from the riders and team managers. It's a bit of a shame for sports, and the Tour de France in particular, but I also guess that there is more and more money involved and you can't really argue against that.

Anyway, it's a great Tour with two great teams: Astana for the hilly stages and the yellow jersey and Columbia for the green jersey and the flat stages.

It has been a long time since we had two strong teams on the Tour.

Finally, we can announce that, with only three stages for sprinters to go, Cavendish will be in green in Paris.

Yours in Sport,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

Thank you for your comments yesterday. As it's a rest day and that not much happened today in the backstage, I will try to answer all your questions below.

Please feel free to comment them and no worries if some other questions arise...

Regarding the Astana potential competitors, I will make it short here. I don’t think there is any competition to be honest. Today, they have for sure 4 guys who can finish in the top 10 and no other team is even close to that. No doubt that Astana will make it this year. Sorry if I ruined the suspense.

If there was a coalition between guys like Schleck, Evans or Sastre, maybe we could have someone else in the lead but do you think these guys will cooperate and accept to leave the race to a competitor at the end? There can only be one winner…and it will be one of Astana’s riders.

As for the Tourmalet stage, I think the main reason why they left so many miles after the Col du Tourmalet was to make sure that the Tour wasn’t over after the Pyrénées. And I think they made the right call even if it wasn’t an interesting stage. The Tour isn’t a one-day show, you have to entertain the crowds for several weeks!

The other reason is that the last week is super hard and we don’t want anyone to fall in the situation where people will start talking about doping before we start the race. I mean, we all know what is going on but it’s not a reason to feed it…won’t you agree?

So, it was for sure a boring day but in the end, we have some remaining suspense and that’s all we want. However, I think that the right call would have been to put another climb right after the Tourmalet. There are lots of small hills around it and it’s a shame they didn’t think about that. Another “col” (mountain) wouldn’t have killed the Tour for sure and the stage would have been more exciting to watch I think.

As for the Rabo team, I think that honestly, it may not look like they tried but I can tell you that they really tried their best. They were trying to go for it but the Caisse d’Epargne was just stronger.

And by the way, I think the Caisse d’Epargne can actually win other stages next week. We have quite a fast course on the second week and we will have classic stages with lots of echappées. So, the Caisse d’Epargne is surely not going for the yellow jersey but they will go for stages wins and I’m sure they will attack and try to win some. They have the talent to do so I think, and they are good at reading echappées…thanks to headsets?

I don’t think so…

This takes me to your last questions about the use of radios. Today, if you ask the race directors, they will tell you that it’s for safety. That’s their main argument! If you look at statistics, there are not less accidents than before. It’s not a serious argument and my opinion is that without radios, we would have much funnier stages to watch.

Riders would just be in each échappées, they will have to try, they will have to feel what is going on in the peloton, who is having a good day and there would be more attacks and so on, that’s for sure…in the end, they would have to PLAY! That’s a sport and when we all started racing in cycling, it was for the fun of it, wasn’t it? Let’s bring back the fun in this peloton and I’m sure the riders will be happy and so will we!

Enjoy the show tomorrow and I look forward to reading from you soon. Thanks for the birthday wishes and for posting your questions!

Yours in Sport,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

I’m a true fan of the Tour de France. I used to ride it as a pro, I’m now helping TV productions, so I shouldn’t say what I’m about to say but it’s the obvious truth: Today was a boring day!

If you look at the course, it can’t really be any different. You have an easy climb 40k before the finish line so no one can get surprised in it and then it’s downhill and flat till the finish. Therefore, there isn’t much strategy. You just control the race, make sure you don’t lose time on your direct competitor and you can “rest” a bit.

And that’s exactly how the guys played it today. These days show some very conservative behaviours (which is normal in some ways) but it isn’t quite what we expect from the Tour de France.

I’m not talking about the riders. They made the right call today. They race to win. I’m talking about the race directors. Presenting days like that on the Tour is not quite good for the audience so maybe there could be something to think about it here. Shorten the length of the Tour or maybe these stages. I don’t have the answer.

But I’m afraid that the next stage will pretty much be the same except that the climb is a very serious one. It’s the Tourmalet. Hopefully, things can change tomorrow and we could see some action.

Today showed us that Contador is the man to beat in the mountains and I think he will rule the Tourmalet tomorrow and maybe gain the yellow jersey. That would be the best thing that could happen to the Tour.

We need some excitements like we had on the first days. We have to keep the momentum for the fans and for the riders!

The only positive thing about stages like today is that they suit any type of riders. So in some ways, it’s good for the sport. Everyone gets a shot at a stage at some point so it helps the riders stay focused on the Tour.

Anyway, I hope tomorrow will be fun to watch and if not, I’m not worried much. There are exciting things to come!

Stay tuned,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

Today was supposed to be a transition day so usually you use these days to “recover” a bit and prepare yourself for the next challenge which, for instance, is tomorrow with the first climb of this Tour.

Unfortunately, the rain was on the Tour today and with heavy showers, this transition day became actually a very stressful day for the riders as the roads were super slippery.

It usually doesn’t rain much in this part of France and Spain so the roads are pretty dusty. If you add rain to it, they become very slippery and super risky as there were some downhill today.

Lots of wipeouts, and obviously a lot of tension for the leaders because they can’t slow down, they must stick to the pack and be ready for any echappée.

The Astana team showed the most experience and self-control today and they are definitely now my favourites.

I even think that Lance is going to grab the Yellow jersey tomorrow in Andorra. He's got everything he needs to make it happen and Contador is under big pressure here. I just saw him passing by 5 minutes ago and there were hundreds of supporters on him trying to get a shot or an autograph from him. It’s not easy to handle that much stress and it could have some impact tomorrow, I think.

The only big question tomorrow is Cancellara. I know he recently won the Tour of Switzerland recently and that he has lost 5kg but I doubt he can compete with Lance in the mountains.

It’s hard to really make a guess here but if Cancellara can compete with Lance on hilly courses, we are going to have a hell of a Tour de France!

So stay tuned tomorrow for some great action and a potential comeback of Lance with the Yellow Jersey!

How exciting is that?!

Yours in Sport,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

On yesterday's coverage, Lance said something like "It doesn't take a genius to know where to be when there is wind and corners."

That must have stung a few people. Ouch.

And today...well...what more can be said...it's going to be quite a ride for cyclists and spectators alike. 

Team Time Trial

I'm sitting here watching the Tour de France and just thinking how cool this race is shaping up to be. Yesterday was a stage that everyone thought was going to be a field sprint, and the leaders were caught napping while a break with practically the whole Columbia team and Lance Armstrong rode away from the field! As I sit here I wonder if we could actually see Lance Armstrong take the yellow jersey at the end of the day. It would be such an amazing feat if he was in yellow again.

Bike racing is like a soap opera. There is so much in the press about the rivalries and then we watch scenarios play out during the races and read so much into them. People love to analyze and guess. It makes us all feel closer to the sport we love.

Back to today's race... The Team Time Trial is something that we don't see as often in normal races, and races where the team time counts to the general classification are even fewer. For those of you who don't know, Team Time Trials are some of the most painful races around. It is an amazing thing to be riding with your team, but, you are only as strong as your weakest person, and the pace is always 110% at the front and recovery in the slipstream. The time is taken off the 5^th man, so you can theoretically lose a few people and still have a good time. The problem is that if you lose riders too early, the others have to work even harder. You want to have the team ride together as long as possible so the speed stays high and everyone gets some recovery. It is amazingly technical, but also beautiful to see the organization and effort.

It's been a few years since I have felt so interested in the Tour.  I have to admit I am one of the fans who are so impressed with Lance's comeback. It is a comeback that is only as astonishing as his comeback from cancer.  I raced in the same years as the younger Lance, and to hear him say that he thinks it is the time off the bike that is his biggest problem, not his age, is something that I think is important for us all to hear. It just confirms that healthy living and training can really make a difference as you age. I don't know if you all know this, but Jeannie Longo just won the French national Championships and she is 50 years old!

So, use this as inspiration! Go out and ride!

What a nice stage to watch today! You didn’t need to watch it from the beginning as nothing happened during the first 150k and to be honest, I was a little worried that some riders would fall asleep on their bikes as the pace was so slow and the race itself quite soporific.

But we got lucky enough that the race radically changed in one single turn. One turn that changed the whole race and maybe the entire first week of this Tour de France!

In one single turn, a group leaded by the Columbia team left the peloton and created an echappée that would hang on till the end of the race.

All of a sudden, the Columbia team, the yellow jersey Cancellara and the inevitable Lance Armstrong were leaving guys like Schleck, Sastre and Contador in the peloton!

And what is crazy is that these three guys didn’t even try to make it back with Lance and Cancellara. They just stuck in the peloton even if the echappée was not going fast at all. What were they thinking?

Even worse, their teammates didn’t make the effort to make it back with the echappée! Honestly, I still wonder how did this happen.

Honestly, you have the yellow jersey leaving the pack supported by his whole team, you have Lance and four other Astana guys and what do they do? They just look at them. Come on!!!

They have team managers, they have the experience, they are trained, they have a strategy, they know who to watch after and they have headsets linking them with the team manager who is supposed to know what is going on!

I’m seriously laughing at these team managers who have been in cycling for 20 years and can’t even see what was obvious! This is just not acceptable from a sports standpoint. You can’t let Lance and Cancellara leave like that, you have to be stupid or you just don’t care.

So here we are now with Lance just 40 seconds away from the yellow jersey and a team time trial just around the corner. I’m telling you now: Lance is going to wear the yellow jersey again and who knows what can happen after.

In the end, we now have a very exciting Tour de France to watch and I’m super happy for Lance.

The pressure is definitely on his shoulders but we know the man and we know that it will actually boost him…if he needs any boost now!

Lance is going to wear the yellow jersey, attract all the attention on him and during this time, the real favourite, Contador, can rest, manage his physical condition and strike hard in the mountain stages where he is supposed to win the Tour.

You know what? It reminds me a Tour de France with Greg Lemond when a young French guy of his team took the yellow jersey for a couple days.

That French guy was being asked to give everything he had to help Greg win the Tour. He did his best and, at some point, his team manager came over and told him to step back and help Greg endorse the yellow jersey…that’s what the French guy did and a couple days later, Greg won his Tour de France as forecast!

That French man was actually me…and what Lance is doing today reminds me a bit of that and I can tell you that he is having a very good time out there. Let’s see how long he can keep the momentum for!

I hope you enjoyed the race and that you are as excited as me for tomorrow!

Yours in sport,

Ronan

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.

In preparation for the 2009 Tour de France, Team Garmin-Slipstream set up camp in Girona, Spain. Meet the riders in argyle and follow them around their new home base.

It’s with great pleasure that I will have once again the opportunity to provide you with my feedbacks on the race everyday.

I can’t remember how many Tour de France I have watched (I do remember how many I raced) but what is sure is that it doesn’t matter if you are a pro cyclist, a weekend warrior, or even a former yellow jersey like me, you are always super thrilled when it’s about to start.

This Tour de France looks very exciting with lots of interesting finishes. I have had a good look at the course the other day and I must confess that I would love to do it. Special credit goes to this massive third week with the Alps stages, the Ventoux on Saturday and all its drama before the final run to Paris. I can’t wait!

Because of this “hilly” third week, I think that the winner of this Tour will have to be a climber.

Thing is that even if you do a great third week in the Alps, you get the Ventoux on Saturday and still have one day to go to get to Paris. And I know from my experience that anything can happen in the Ventoux. Climbers will have their shot at it this year for sure. So don’t miss that day, check you calendars, book the whole night and watch this live. It will be one of these great days in the Tour’s history.

So here we are, we have a great course, with a fancy start in Monaco, then, you look at the athletes engaged and you become even more thrilled about this 2009 Tour de France: Contador, Cadel Evans, Sastre, the Schleck brothers, the Astana team and its phenomenon Lance Armstrong! What else could you ask for?

The Tour is already the greatest cycling event on the planet but with Lance’s comeback, you just get it all at once…and this is going to last for 3 weeks! When you think about it, Lance is by far the only superstar cycling has ever had and having him coming back, this is almost too much! Seriously, Lance’s come back is one of the greatest things that has happened to the Tour since he won his titles. Coming back with no ambition than just enjoying the sports, helping his charity Livestrong, it just shows the world what a great man he is.

You may not realize how tough a Tour de France is for your body, but it really is one of the toughest effort you can do in today’s sports. So you have to realize that you can’t just say “Well, I’m back” and expect to have fun or even finish it. It’s not like a golf player who is willing to do a comeback. This is serious work to get back in a shape to feel confident to take the start and it requires even more work to get enough trained to perform well even if your name is Lance Armstrong! This is a former yellow jersey telling you that. I never thought about coming back, just for that one reason. Lance is even fitter than he used to be in 2005 and he has taken back his 2005 position on his bike. The guy is going for it, I’m telling you.

Talking about Lance and because it’s my first post, most of you will be waiting for my favourites (I hope). I won’t make you wait any longer, so here they are: Contador, Evans, Sastre, Armstrong, Andy Schleck and Leipheimer. I don’t think Menchov is a real threat; he will be tired off his great Giro and shouldn’t have enough resources to make it.

If I had to pick one among these athletes, I would go for Andy Schleck because cycling needs some fresh blood I think and Andy looks like a great sportsman with a true cycling heritage. Fingers crossed!

So, regarding tomorrow now, here is my first insight of this year’s Tour. Astana is going to have Lance starting the prologue in first and Contador finishing it. You know that usually, you would launch your best shot at the end but Astana has been in Monaco for several days and so have I. You notice that everyday is very sunny except during the last hour of the afternoon where you can even have some light rains. I think Astana wanted to get Lance going first to make sure he is got he ideal conditions to perform and put the pressure on the other teams.

This prologue is like the Team time trial. This is not just a very nice stage, great for the public and all that, it’s almost the perfect setup to put pressure on your competition. So don’t look at the prologue or the team time trial just like a great day of cycling with athletes riding the nicest bikes in the world, a lot of strategy is taking place during these moments and tomorrow it starts with Lance going first!

Finally, I would just like to write a note about Boonen who has finally been accepted on the Tour this year after two positive controls. Some will say that it’s once again a shame for the sports and I could understand that but I will argue the opposite. I think it’s good for cycling that Boonen got in. We need all the pros on the line tomorrow to make this Tour de France one of the greatest. Boonen made a big mistake during “this party” and I’m sure he has already paid the price for his mistake. It wasn’t doping to perform better and I think Justice should have been clearer and more strict from the beginning. With all these changes, it’s the whole legal process that lost a bit of credibility here I think…but we will have other opportunities to talk about doping in later posts…

I’m looking for a lot of great moments of sports during the three upcoming weeks and am truly happy to be able to share them with you. So feel free to contact me if you have any question as it’s always a pleasure to share my passion of cycling with all of you.

To a great Tour de France!

Ronan Pensec participated eight times in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey in 1990 while racing for Greg Lemond's Z team. He now operates Ronan Pensec Travel, an official Tour de France operator hosting VIP cycling tours for recreational cycling enthusiasts.