LEEDS, England -- So your national team is out of the World Cup in Brazil, Wimbledon doesn't seem the same without Serena Williams or Rafael Nadal, and your baseball team is slumping.
There is always the 101st Tour de France for that much needed sports fix.
Cycling's biggest event gets going today through the bucolic countryside in northern England, where officials have paid for the right to host it, hoping to draw tourists, capture media attention and feed the recent cycling craze among Britons.
It could first require getting over a nagging belief that after Lance Armstrong's doping exposure the sport may still be dogged by drugs cheats. Cycling chiefs and experts generally agree that the era of widespread doping is over, but few would claim to know that today's pack is fully clean. Drugs testers will conduct hundreds of blood and urine checks during the race.
Bookmakers' odds foresee a victory either by defending champion Chris Froome, a 29-year-old Kenyan-born Briton who leads Team Sky, or two-time champion Alberto Contador, a 31-year-old Spaniard with Tinkoff-Saxo Bank, when the 21-stage race finishes July 26 on Paris' Champs-Elysees.
Few of the 198 riders on the 22 teams stand a realistic chance of winning, based on recent performances, skill sets and team priorities. Most are "domestiques" who race above all to help their team leaders win. Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and Spaniards Alberto Valverde and Joaquin Rodriquez stand an outside chance.
Conceding a home-road advantage, Contador said Friday that Froome remains the favorite.
"Froome is the man to beat," Contador said. "He has been the best in the last two years and has shown his form in the Tour before. I'm in a better shape than last year. I don't know if it will be enough to beat him, but I'll try."
Froome, who succeeded Sky teammate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins as Tour winner, admitted that he is feeling the pressure of being the defending champion going into the race.
"I don't think many Tour champions get to come back as defending champions and can start in front of their home crowd," Froome said. "I definitely won't say I'm going to win, but I will say that I'm going to give it my absolute everything."
Five of the 21 stages end in summit finishes, which usually promise drama as the cream of the climbers rises to the top first. In all, the riders will cover 2,277 miles of roads in England, France, Belgium and Spain.
Aside from cobblestone treachery in Stage 5, the mountains mostly matter this year. For the first time in 61 years, this tour has only one long time trial -- a race-against-the-clock where racers set off one-by-one down a starter's ramp. It comes in Stage 20. Contador and Froome are among the best in both climbing and time-trialing.
This year marks the second time that the Tour de France is starting in Britain, following a successful time in London in 2007. Local officials use municipal funds to pay for the right to host the race in their cities, hoping for short-term tourism revenues plus a longer-term return from the international media spotlight.
The Tour's route changes every year. After three stages in England, this 101st edition enters France on Tuesday. The riders will cover many of the same roads their forebears covered since the race was first run in 1903.
Today's stage covers a rolling 118 miles from Leeds to Harrogate and will likely favor sprinters. The Tour's green jersey goes to the best overall sprinter, one of many subplots to the overall title chase that includes pure climbers seeking the polka-dot jersey to be the best man in the mountains.
Many of the Union Jack-waving spectators will want Britain's Mark Cavendish, perhaps the best sprinter of his generation, to get his 26th career Tour stage victory in Harrogate, his mother's hometown. If he does, he'll wear the race leader's yellow jersey for the first time in his career.
Sports on 07/05/2014