Tour de France Heats Up

After tonights 10th stage of the Tour De France, we will sort the men out from the boys. Until now we have viewed exciting sprint finishes, a prologue and the 52 km individual time trial. But now the battle for the green jersey takes a back seat, as competition for the prestigious yellow jersey heats up. It also provides a chance for the top climbers, such as Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, to stake a claim for the coveted Polka Dot Jersey for the king of the mountains.

We have had the chance to see the form of the main riders in the ITT and none was more impressive than American Floyd Landis. Riding for the Phonak team, Landis is showing the sort of form that could continue recent dominance by the USA. This tour has provided some of the lesser known riders with a chance to take over the baton left by superstar Lance Armstrong. Many thought this would be Ivan Basso or Armstrong's long time rival Jan Ullrich. But after their dramatic exclusion from the tour, for riders such as Landis, this has provided a golden opportunity. Other riders to emerge as genuine chances of taking over Armstrong's reign were Australian Cadel Evans, Russian Denis Menchov and Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych.

Of these three challengers to the favourite Landis, perhaps Popovych is best equipped to make a serious challenge for overall honours. "Pop" represents Armstrong's former team Discovery Channel and will be extremely motivated to continue the team's recent dominance. Coming into this years race it appeared a close race between Hincapie and Pop as to who would be the team leader for GC (general classification). However, the early stages have seen last years White Jersey winner take the mantel as the teams number one rider. Not since 1996-97 when Jan Ullrich claimed the feat, have we seen a rider take the White Jersey-Yellow Jersey double. Pop might be just the man to do it.

Cadel Evans will also challenge for a podium finish, but being part of a weaker team might make the difference. Although Davitamon-Lotto is a fantastic squad, the team has been built for McEwen and the sprints more than GC. This will make life a lot tougher for Evans on the gruelling mountain stages.

Denis Menchov is another with great GC prospects. He comes from the very solid Rabobank team and has been in fantastic form. He won the Vuelta A Espana after winner Roberto Heras has his victory stripped from him. Being a 3 week race, it is very solid lead in form. He also looked very good in the ITT.

Apart from GC, this is the time we start to see the race for the Polka Dot Jersey commence. The obvious favourite for this classification is Michael Rasmussen. It is expected that he will emerge in the early mountain stages on stages 10 and 11. If there is a danger to Rasmussen it could be Spaniard Oscar Pereiro Sio. He showed fantastic form in the ITT. He also looks fantastic value in the betting. Although Rasmussen looks the one, he is a definite danger.

Ed note: Bet on the Tour de France at Bet 365 and get a £100 bonus

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