Uncertainty, doping issues surround Tour de France

BREST, France — When about 180 riders from 20 teams line up for the start of the 95th Tour de France in this coastal city in Brittany today, they will embark on a 2,200-mile journey of uncertainty: for themselves as riders, for the Tour as an event and for cycling as a sport.

About 12 months ago, the Tour limped to the finish line in Paris, seemingly on the verge of imploding over doping scandals. In its final week, the race leader, Michael Rasmussen, was expelled by his team for lying about why he missed drug tests during training, and two other teams dropped out after each had a rider fail a drug test.

Last year's winner, Alberto Contador, will be absent this year because the team he joined in the offseason, Astana, was excluded from this year's race after being enmeshed in doping scandals the past two years. The apparent champion from two years ago, American Floyd Landis, had his title revoked after failing a drug test and is serving a two-year suspension.

The sport itself is in danger of fracturing into two leagues amid an escalating feud between the Amaury Sports Organization, which owns and organizes the Tour de France and several other major events, and the International Cycling Union, the sport's governing body.

To Christian Prudhomme, the race director, this is the moment of truth. "Cycling is judged over three weeks in July," Prudhomme said this week. "I hope everyone has this in mind. Without doubt, it's an important year for the image of cycling."

Tour officials have made several cosmetic changes, with two likely to affect the results in the first week, if not the entire outcome.

For the first time since 1967, the race will not start with a short prologue time trial. Rather, the riders will set out on a rolling, 121-mile trip from Brest to Plumelec.

Prudhomme has also eliminated time bonuses, meaning the first three finishers in each stage and the winners of the on-route sprints used to allocate points for the best-sprinter competition will no longer benefit from having seconds shaved off their overall times.

Together, those adjustments mean there could be several more lead changes than normal in the first week, at least until the fourth stage, an 18-mile individual time trial Tuesday in Cholet.

This year's Tour is also likely to bring to the fore several new contenders for the overall title, because a mere three riders in this year's race have finished on the top-three podium in Paris. One of them, Cadel Evans, a 31-year-old Australian rider for the Silence-Lotto team who finished second to Contador last year, is considered the favorite. He is likely to be challenged by Alejandro Valverde, a 28-year-old Spaniard riding for the Caisse d'Epargne team.

But neither rider has a lock on victory. Evans is known for his conservative — not to say boring — riding style, and Valverde has had bad luck with crashes in previous Tours. His sixth-place finish last year could have been better had he not lost nearly eight minutes to Evans in the two time trials.

Riders will be subject to intense scrutiny from anti-doping officials during the three-week Tour. On that score, Prudhomme said he believed a vast majority of riders had embraced an anti-doping stance.

"There is a real change in mentality within the teams, the riders, to ensure that cycling recovers its credibility," he said.

Unlike past years, that effort won't be overseen by the International Cycling Union, which has no official presence here because of its dispute with Tour organizers. The French Anti-Doping Agency will conduct drug tests, a task it has performed at smaller races.

The anti-doping agency collected blood and urine samples from 60 to 70 riders during the weeks leading up to the Tour and has drawn samples from each rider after the arrival of the teams here this week. In addition, the stage winner, the overall race leader and two to four other riders will be required to submit samples after each stage.