Six things you need to know about the 2010 Tour de France

By Gary Walsh

1: This year, it’s also the Tour of Holland and Belgium

For something so identifiably French, Le Tour certainly does its bit for neighbouring countries on a regular basis. This year it begins in Rotterdam with an 8.9km prologue and then on day two heads for Brussels on the first stage, not crossing into France until stage three. The first foreign start was way back in 1954, also in the Netherlands, and since then the Tour has begun five times in Holland, three times in both Belgium and Germany, twice in Luxembourg and once in Spain, Ireland, Monaco and the UK.

2: The riders are wimps compared to the early days

This year the pampered cyclists of the Tour will cover just 3642km over 20 stages and a prologue. They’ll have masseurs and doctors to soothe their aching muscles, cars running alongside to offer them drinks and little showbags of food and pretty girls to kiss the winners at the finish of every stage. Back in 1919, the few riders who had survived World War I – only 69 in all started, the fourth lowest total ever – had to pedal 5560 km over 15 stages. They may well have had pretty girls waiting at the end of each day, but not models dressed in lycra. Understandably only 11 finished that year, the fewest in the Tour’s history. They also finished the race with the slowest average speed of 24.056 km/h. The fastest average speed was recorded in 2005, with a rocket-like 41.654 km/h.

3: There will be a drug controversy

This year the World Anti-Doping Agency will oversee the International Cycling Union’s doping tests during the Tour. Regardless, there will still be a drug scandal somewhere along the way, or at the very minimum, a few creeping suspicions. In 2009 there was just one offence detected, down from 11 cases in both 2007 and 2008. The most infamous case, of course, was that of America’s Floyd Landis, who won the Tour in 2006 but was subsequently stripped of the title for doping. He denied using enhancements until earlier this year when he admitted to systematic doping from 2002 onwards, and tossed a few other names into the doping pot, including Lance Armstrong …

4: … who is back this year aiming for an eighth victory

And he may well win it. Armstrong, who won from 1999-2005, retired, and then returned last year, finishing third, says this will be his final Tour. His great rival Alberto Contador was his teammate in 2009 – although in this instance the term teammate did not imply anything soft and cuddly such as friendliness or partnership. In fact, the two hate each other, a situation exacerbated by the fact that Contador won the race last year. Now that Armstrong has his own outfit, Team RadioShack, he can target Contador to his heart’s content. Their personal battle will be a highlight of the Tour.

5: Cadel Evans won’t win

Australia’s grumpiest sportsman – although Mark Webber runs him a reasonably close second – is back for his sixth Tour. Having finished eighth, fourth, second and second in his first four attempts, hopes were high for Evans last year, but he had a Barry Crocker, finishing 30th. This year he has a new team, BMC, and some excellent lieutenants, including American George Hincapie. Evans finished fifth in the recent Giro d’Italia, winning one stage, but it’s unlikely BMC has the quality to support him all the way to glory on the Champs-Elysees. It’s surprising that Evans has won only one Tour de France stage in his career – the winningest Australian is Robbie McEwan, who has 12 stage victories. But McEwan’s best finish is 89th.

6: The spectators will be at least as watchable as the race

We love the Viking! He’s so famous he appears on the official Tour de France website. We love the Devil! We love the Borats, the bum-barers, the Asterixes! If watching the riders pedal through the gorgeous French countryside isn’t enough – let’s face it, the Tour is a month-long tourism advertisement for the beauty of rural France – the millions of spectators are a spectacle in themselves. Shouting, waving, crushing in on the riders as they stagger up yet another cruel climb, they help make watching the Tour one of the great sporting pleasures on Earth.