Tour de France is back…

Everywhere you look the world is talking about the FIFA World Cup but another race has started. The 2010 Tour de France began on July 3rd and will run until July 25th. For road cycling fans this is always an interesting race to watch. In its 97th year this race is broken down into 1 prologue and 20 stages covering 3,642km from Rotterdam to Paris.

The Tour is always exciting to follow. With the completion of stage one there is already controversy over who won the stage after a disastrous crash with only 3km left. Resources in the SIRC Collection such as Cycling Weekly and Bicycling Australia have been discussing the race for months. The following is a quick summary of what is sure to be fantastic race to follow over the next three weeks!

Race Route:
- 1 prologue
- 9 flat stages
- 6 mountain stages and 3 summit finishes
- 4 medium mountain stages
- 1 individual time trial stage
- 11 new stage towns

Teams:
- 16 pre-selected teams
- 6 wildcard teams
- 9 riders per team
- 198 total competitors

Cycling Weekly listed the following as people to watch:
- Alberto Contador (Astana : Kazakhstan)
- Lance Armstrong (RadioShack / USA)
- Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky/ Great Britain)
- Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank: Denmark)
- Carlos Sastre (Cervelo: Switzerland)
- Denis Menchov (Rabobank: Netherlands)
- Ivan Basso (Liquigas: Italy)
- Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team: USA)

Also, watch for these Canadians amongst the riders!
- Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions: USA)
- Michael Barry (Team Sky: Great Britain)