Le Tour Blog 1: Who to watch

It's Tour Time again gang!

Late nights, a bottle of something nice open, and telly on. Swooping SBS helicopter shots of fields of sunflowers, soaring alps and of course ripe vineyards. You know the deal, bleary eyes at work but back into it all again each night.

We here in the Mitchell Harris crew are no different to the rest of you Tour tragics, so this year we'll get the conversation started with our highly uneducated predictions, reviews, thoughts and drink matches throughout the month ahead...

So, who to watch this year?

1. Yell for Cadel!

Yep, the 2011 GC champ with the bum-chin is our pick for back to back wins this year. Not the greatest of lead-ups, but our little Aussie legend will take his climbing pedigree from the mighty mountains of Barwon Heads, and once again come to the fore in the Alpine stages. Another hero-run to  snatch yellow in the final time trial and become the oldest Tour Champ since World War 2?...We'll see...

Drink Match: For a mountain superstar: 1977 Hill of Grace

2. Wiggins...

After a catastrophic collarbone failure in Stage Seven of Le Tour last year, Bradley Wiggins is keen to take up the fight Ashes-style to Our Cadel. He has kicked off the year pretty well with a win up in the mountains in the Criterium du Dauphine and loves a time trial too.
The big danger this year...

Drink Match: Warming up for a big one: An English Bitter

3. Menchov

He's picked up the Vuelta and the Giro in the past, so could he pick up the big one this year? Dunno, he's an all-rounder, and probably a good choice to be in our top 3 chances for this years Tour. Don't write him off...

Drink Match: A roughie: Straight Stolichnaya

And so you can all keep up to date with the finer points of Le Tour, we'll help you with demystifying the tricky terms those commentators will use...

TODAYS TOUR JARGON GLOSSARY:

-BREAKAWAY-

-a euphemistic term referring to sitting the tour out at the behest of the anti-doping authorities.

-eg: Alberto Contador is having a BREAKAWAY from the Tour this year after his recent test results.

OK, we'll keep up you up to date as we kick off on Saturday night. Keep an eye on our blog here or join in our twitter ramblings...