Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

The Tour de France starts Saturday and ends on 24 July. It's the most prestigious stage race in the world. If you'd like to follow the action, here is a good site. It's the one I use for reports, results, course maps, and course profiles. Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador will be trying to win his third consecutive Tour and his fourth overall. Yes, he's still under a cloud of suspicion from the 2010 Tour, but he's being allowed to participate as his case is adjudicated. His main rival this year, as in 2010, is Luxembourgian cyclist Andy Schleck. To win the Tour, one must excel both at climbing steep mountains and in individual time trials. Contador is a natural-born climber, and to my amazement he has made himself an excellent time trialist. I believe the Tour is being telecast live on Versus.