First, beat the course, then beat Armstrong

THE Tour de France was due to begin today with American Lance Armstrong once again the man to beat.

Armstrong has triumphed over the gruelling course in each of the last four years and is again being tipped to continue his domination of the event as he seeks a record-equalling fifth overall victory.

Roberto Heras, his trusty US Postal team-mate, has admitted he will sacrifice everything to see Armstrong realise his dream on this the centenary of the race.

Spaniard Heras, whose selfless work in the mountains has helped the Texan to win three of his four crowns, says he is quite happy to sacrifice his hopes of winning one of seven mountain stages this year in order to help Armstrong match the feat of Miguel Indurain in winning five consecutive Tours.

Three other men - Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault - have won five Tours, but not in consecutive years.

The tour was due to kick off today with the prologue and concludes on July 27, and Heras said: "I would like to win a stage - but the most important thing is the overall standings and that Lance wins."

Some have said Heras, a former winner of the Vuelta (Tour of Spain), would be the most likely rider to challenge Armstrong if he were to leave the US Postal team, but the Spaniard played down that suggestion.

Referring to one stage last year when Armstrong conceded he had been struggling to stay with Heras, the Spaniard said: "That’s the only day I was better than him. From the day after he was better than me again.

"It’s tough to say because Lance still remains the best. I would have perhaps a chance for second or third place (overall) but it’s impossible to contest first place against Lance."

Heras insisted that he could see no other winner than Armstrong, provided that the 31-year-old from Texas remains fit.

"I think if Lance is fit he can only win," said Heras, who admitted that he relished being part of the tightly-knit US Postal team, known affectionately as the Blue Train as they usually remain in close formation even on the onerous mountain stages.

"I love that image because it shows that everyone in the team is fit physically and mentally," said Heras.

Armstrong, meanwhile, insists he will treat this year’s race as "just another Tour" as he attempts to ride his way into the record books.

The Texan is hot favourite to join the elite group of four others who have won the world’s most gruelling cycle race five times.

The US Postal rider, who recovered from testicular cancer in 1999, would join the sport’s highest echelons if he was able to clinch yet another victory in the competition.

But Armstrong is unfazed by the pressure on his shoulders going into the Tour.

"For me, like for the other riders at the start, it’s just another Tour," said Armstrong.

"I know I have a chance to emulate Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, but we’ll think about the legend in due course."

Armstrong would also emulate Spaniard Indurain in winning the Tour five years in a row. But he conceded that victory in this year’s 20-stage, 3247-km race could prove an even more difficult proposition than in years gone by. "When I saw the itinerary in October, I told myself it would be more difficult to make a difference because there are fewer mountain-top finishes and shorter time trials," he said.

One of Armstrong’s main rivals could be German Jan Ullrich, the 1997 winner and four-times runner-up.

Ullrich has put two turbulent years behind him and lines up for the Tour after a knee injury, a suspension for recreational drug use and team problems kept him out of competition for more than 14 months.

"I worked hard to make it back to my best, I changed my approach. Even if I don’t feel capable of beating Armstrong this year, having not taken part in a three-week race for two years, I want to make it onto the podium," he said.

Spaniard Joseba Beloki, who was second last year and has two third places to his name, should also push Armstrong.

Another rider with the ability to threaten is Colombian Santiago Botero, who has left the Spanish team Kelme for strong German outfit Telekom.

Botero, fourth last year, is a strong climber and was the first rider to beat the Armstrong in a long time trial on the Tour since the American returned from illness.

Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez of Spain, Italian Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni and Armstrong’s former team-mate Tyler Hamilton also have strong claims for a top-ten finish to the race. While the Tour hits 100, the nation whose name it bears is still bemoaning the fact that it has not yet unearthed a successor to Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the classic cycling race, in 1985.

Of the 39 French riders at the start in Paris, Christophe Moreau, who was fourth two years ago, looks to be the only one with a chance of getting on to the podium.

Other Frenchmen will simply be looking for a stage win while the younger riders will just hope to gain some experience for the future.

"Unless something exceptional happens, I can’t see a Frenchman winning the Tour," said five-times winner Hinault.

"Some guys can still have a good Tour, win a stage or at least try by attacking a lot," he added.

Moreau, a gifted time trial specialist has, for once, suffered neither health problems nor bad crashes this season.

The winner of the Dunkirk Four Days in May, he also got fifth place in the Dauphine Libere last month.

"I had not attacked so much for a long time and it was great fun," he said.

"I know very well that to finish the Tour well placed, you have to stay with the best in the mountains but I don’t rule out any option. I just hope to overcome the first week’s tension. I will try to stay out of trouble and concentrate on the prologue and the first time trial."

French champion Didier Rous, of the Brioches La Boulangere team, is a good rider but he will be happy just to stay in the leading group and finish in the top ten.

Richard Virenque, of Quick Step, can hope for a mountain stage win but is considered too old at 33 to earn a sixth King of the Mountains victory which would allow him to equal Lucien van Impe’s record.

Former world champion Laurent Brochard will find the climbs too taxing to have real hopes of success.

Among those with a bright future ahead of them are Sylvain Chavanel and Sandy Casar.

Thirteenth in the last Giro d’Italia, Casar is probably the more experienced and talented of the pair.

"With Sandy, it’ll be all or nothing. He might be a little tired from his Giro and I will leave him alone," said FDJeux.com team director Marc Madiot.

Chavanel, starting his third Tour, has looked off-form in recent races and is struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of his friend and team mate Fabrice Salanson before the Tour of Germany last month.

"Sylvain has always struggled in June but his main problem right now is grief. He needs a little bit of happiness and only the race can help him out," said Brioches La Boulangere manager Philippe Raimbaud.