No team will be able to control the Tour de France during all three weeks because the route is too difficult, race director Christian Prudhomme said on Friday.
Astana’s Alberto Contador, a Tour winner in 2007, will be the overwhelming favourite when the race starts with a 15-km time trial in Monaco, on July 4.
But despite possible support from team mates Lance Armstrong, a seven-times Tour champion, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden, keeping the yellow jersey all the way to Paris should prove too tricky.
“I don’t believe one team will be able to control the whole race,†Prudhomme told reporters at the Monte Carlo tennis Masters.
“A team could seize power early in the race but given the route, they should not be able to keep it all the way,†he said … Details