The 100th the Tour de France begins on 29th June. Run entirely in France, the race starts in the French island of Corsica. It is expected to be a particularly gruelling event this year and there are some very challenging alpine climbs in the latter stages.
Currently Bradley Wiggins has fallen out of favour with the punters after abandoning the Giro d’Italia as he had been unwell. Consequently the odds on him winning the Tours de France lengthened considerably and currently they are sitting at around 16/1. However it was only a bug and he is confident that he will recover in time for the event. At 16/1 is would seem to be a good bet.
However Mark Cavendish is flying the flag for Britain at the moment and has won the fourth stage in the Giro d’Italia, the hundredth win of his career. He is also leading Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step in the Tours de France after having broken away from Team Sky as he considered that he had not received sufficient support in the 2012 Tours de France. Currently odds on him winning the Tours de France are posted at 5,000/1. Given that he was ranked 142 in the 2012 Tours de France, at odds like those he has to be worth a bet. Read more »
Briton sprinter Chris Froome has come up as the winner of the 82nd Criterium International this season. The Team Sky member, who is also one of most promising participants for Tour de France claimed that his recent Criterium International win is surely one of most impressive victories in his career. The esteemed quick fire 3-stage spring cycling event Criterium International which is held every year in France, took place between March 23- March 24, 2013, this time.
The winning Briton cyclist from team Sky launched his victory attack when he was about 5.5 km to get on the top of Col de l’Ospedale. Richard Porte (Froome’s Sky team mate) came second after Froome as he finished 32 seconds after the victorious British cyclist in the French spring riding competition. The 3rd position is secured by Tejay Garderen who finished after a further twenty-two seconds.
The Criterium win is the 2nd stage-race win of this year for 27-year-old Chris Froome, apart from Tour of Oman. Chris also finished on the second position in Tirreno Adriatco. The final stage of 176 kilometers at Criterium International race culminated in the summit finish post a 14.1 kilometers mount above the Corsica town, where Tour de France 2013 is just about to start off very soon.
“It was almost like the way we planned”, stated Chris Froome while approached to speak on his great win in the prestigious Criterium international. “Our idea was to stay in control of the race throughout the day. Certainly it was something huge & we actually put pressure on others. I didn’t plan attack in climb. However, as there was gap between Porte & me, I felt it’s right for me to head, thus I went. This race has helped to see how much I could put trust on my team mates in the upcoming Tour de France”.
The Kenyan born Team Sky cyclist Chris Froome is riding high on success after a spectacular win at the Tour of Oman earlier this month. He believes that this particular victory of his proves that Sky had made the right decision in making him the team leader for Team Sky instead of Bradley Wiggins, for the upcoming seasons Tour de France, 2013.
Froome who came an over-all second last year behind Wiggins (last year’s champion) says winning the Tour of Oman has been instrumental in boosting of his confidence for the future challenges. He further stated that this victory only makes his fellow compatriots and his team, including the support staff feel more secure, knowing that they have a rider who will surely win the France tour for them.
Wiggins who defeated cycling stars like Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador at the Tour of Oman considers this to be a great victory for himself.
Froome paid tribute to his UCI ProTeam ‘Team Sky’ for its support, he also thanked his team-members including Wiggins for doing their part well in creating the perfect slip streams for him ensuring that he had a smooth run, which helped him in winning the race.
Bradley Wiggins who came 74th at the Oman tour has said that he wasn’t really looking forward to winning this particular race. Wiggins explained that he has set himself some very different targets this year, for he doesn’t want to compete and be compared with his own stellar performances at Tour de France and the Olympic last year.
The 27 year old Chris Froome, has been quoted saying that the feeling of this debut victory at Oman hasn’t properly sunk in yet. He is known to be a strong mountain climber and a specialist in individual time trial format of cycling.
Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins spoke with a French reporter, regarding the preparation for the Tour de France’s 100th edition. Froome said that he did not concentrate much on the Tour. He was followed up by a laughing Wiggins saying that it’s going to spoil all parties of the year.
Knowing about the dynamics between these two cyclists, Froome admits that he has to play the second fiddle along with Wiggins. It seems that Chris Froome knows about it. The French reporter continued to ask more questions. He asked to Wiggins about the cycling training during the winter, Wiggins said that he was the one who did all the hard work in a lighter sense.
According to their plan, it was Froome who will concentrate on winning the Tour de France, and Wiggins will concentrate on lifting the Giro D’Italia championship during the month of May. Wiggins said that he will rejoice on Froome wining the Tour de France.
Both Wiggins and Froome differ in their personalities. Froome seems to be a man on his own. Froome is around 27 years while Wiggins is at 32. During morning training session, both of them have their own way of training, Wiggins will never mind the harsh weather and go for a 3 hour outdoor training. But Froome will prefer to have a cycling on the machine at that time.
Recently Team Sky members are pushing Wiggins to take part in Tour de France, which is going to happen before Giro D’Italia championship. But Wiggins has decided to leave out Tour championship to Froome. Wiggins insisted to win all the cycling championship and not only to win the Tour de France. He has left the cycling’s greatest race to his teammate. This is the best time for Froome to win this year’s Tour de France.
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May 21, 2013 9:59 am | 
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