Tour de Farce....

Lets put this in context quickly...for the last 5 years, I have been absolutely hooked, enthralled, entertained, addicted and caught up in the hype of the Tour de France. I don't watch cycling per se, but when July rolls around, and the Tour starts - the television remains fixed on the cycling, and hour upon hour of couch time gets racked up. Yes - for three weeks during the cold winter month (which also happens to perfectly coincide with K's year end) you will find me glued to the action taking place in "le tour". The commentary of Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett are familiar voices that echo throughout the lounge each year, and provide intense and exciting accounts of the days action. There is just nothing that describes the kick that I get out of this most dramatic sporting event - claimed to be the toughest endurance sport on earth.
So...imagine my dissapointment this afternoon at reading that the two favourites this year have been suspended from racing, on the eve of the start of TDF2006, for their involvement in a doping scandal. Jan Ullrich, who has won the event only once (1997), and come runner up to Lance Armstrong on 5 occasions, and was set to give it one last stab before retiring - and Ivan Basso, who was runner up to Lance last year, and winner of the Giro de Italia by more than 9 minutes - both suspended by their teams today. Truly, truly dissapointing as this would have been an epic battle without the dominant presence of Lance in this years race.
So, with Ullrich and Basso out of contention this year, I'd have to place my money on Phonak's Floyd Landis to take the podium in Paris. Landis is a former team mate of Armstrong's, and Phonak's lead rider in this years race. South Africa's Robbie Hunter is one of the support riders who will be helping Landis to take the lead in the General Classification, so I guess that's another reason to support Landis. There is still a lot of fierce competition to contend with - so its definitely not a one horse race just yet. The likes of Cadel Evans (the Aussie), Alexander Vinokourov (not sure whether he will race either - same doping scandal has resulted in his team having their sponsorship dropped - although he is not implicated at this stage), Francisco Mancebo, Paulo Salvodelli (still with Armstrong's Discovery team) and Jose Asevedo (another Discovery rider) are all strong possibilities.
Still, my money sits with Landis. The Tour starts tomorrow...I've placed my bet. Lets see how my prediction turns out in 3 weeks time.