CYCLING:While Nicolas Roche will hope to quickly find his form after a disrupted preparation, questions will linger over champion and favourite Alberto Contador, writes SHANE STOKES

AS THE sun rises on the Vendée region today, as the high tide gradually subsides to expose the Passage du Gois causeway where the race will begin, 198 riders will have big question marks in their minds. How am I going? How are the others going? Can I stay out of trouble today, and over the next three weeks?

Most importantly: will my Tour de France be a success?

Nicolas Roche will be asking himself these questions, and most likely with a bit more uncertainty than before. The Irishman starts his third Tour de France not knowing what to expect.

In 2009, Roche made his Tour debut and rode solidly, clocking up stage placings of second, third, eighth, eighth and 10th, and finished 23rd overall. Last year he came to the race on the back of a successful early season and rode with great consistency, finishing 15th in Paris. It was a fine display, and he’d have been even closer to the top-10 had his Ag2r La Mondiale team-mate John Gadret obeyed team orders on the mountainous stage 15 and given him his wheel when Roche punctured.

This time round, things have been much more complicated. His problems started in November when he developed tendonitis in a knee when running; the injury required several weeks of rest. Midway through January, he tore his quadriceps during the team training camp and was off the bike again.

In April, he hit the deck in the Flèche Wallonne Classic when his gears slipped, suffering cuts and bruises. Then, last month, on June 10th, he crashed heavily during the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Roche clipped another rider on a descent, walloped the ground and lost several minutes due to the trauma of the crash. He finished 25 minutes behind the stage winner, and pulled out of the race the next morning.

He was a patchwork quilt of cuts and bruises.

“I am literally cut from my ankle up to my chin . . . going from shin all the way up to the hip, all the ribs, under the armpit, the arm, my fingers . . . they are all open,” he said the following day.

Expecting three days off the bike, he was ultimately sidelined for five; the crash also meant he missed the final two days of the race.

Roche had set himself the goal of a top-five stage finish and eighth overall; instead, while his Tour rivals battled it out in the mountains, testing their form, he was dressing his wounds and trying to recover enough to resume training. He’d been chasing his tail all year and was in that position once again.

Roche did the only thing he could in those circumstances – remain optimistic. “The dream scenario is that over the next five, six or 10 days, my legs come back as they were in the Dauphiné,” he told The Irish Times last week. “When I do my training now, when I do my sprints or whatever, I don’t feel the best.

“But the reason I don’t feel the best is just because of the crash, not because of the lack of training. I think that once my body has recovered, my condition will be good. It is not like I am chasing form . . . for once, this time, the form was there. It should be the case that it will slowly but surely come back after the bruises go down.”

That’s the plan, anyway.

In an ideal scenario, Roche’s rebuilding of condition would have seen him win the Irish championships in Scotstown, Co Monaghan, on Sunday. He conceded beforehand he wouldn’t be as strong as he had hoped, but said that by using his head it might still be possible to win. If he did that, he’d have the coveted white-and-green champion’s jersey back, and also a substantial morale boost heading towards the Tour.

Instead, he had to make do with fourth. He rode well, attacking the lead break on several occasions, but his stiffness and complicated build-up meant he wasn’t as sharp as in other years. His first cousin, Dan Martin, with Garmin-Cervélo, dynamited things on the final lap, attacking on the climb and opening a gap over the others in the move. The only rider able to go with him was defending champion Matt Brammeier, of HTC Highroad, who – by one centimetre – pulled off what was likely the tightest win in the race.

Roche fought it out for the bronze medal but finished behind David McCann. He rolled across the line with a look of disappointment, but later accepted the outcome as part of his comeback.

“I definitely was lacking a bit on the day. It didn’t go as well as I was hoping, but I am okay with that,” he said. “I tried. Daniel was strong, Brammeier was strong. I was disappointed, but I think I did some good work at the nationals. I think it was important to go there and race hard, so it was okay.

“Apart from the racing, I enjoyed being there. I got to see everybody. A lot of the guys only see me on TV, so it is important to me to be close to the cycling people in Ireland.”

Since then things have been about getting ready for the Tour. On Monday he flew back to his Italian base in Varese, a modern apartment near the town plaza, and tackled the tedious ordeal of packing his suitcase for a month away. On Tuesday he was due to fly to Nantes, but had a long wait and then a redirection via Paris when that flight was cancelled.

Wednesday was a chance to get out on the bike and to check out the course for tomorrow’s team time trial, as well as today’s stage finish. He trained Thursday and yesterday, and fulfilled obligations such as the Tour’s medical screening and the team press conference. From today, though, everything will be 100 per cent focused on the racing.

The Tour has an interesting first week, more varied than recent years, and this bodes well for aggressive competition. Today’s first stage to the Mont des Alouettes ends with a short uphill finish. Tomorrow’s 23km race in Les Essarts is that team time trial, and Tuesday’s leg to the top of the Mur de Bretagne climaxes with a steep grind to the line.

After that, a couple of stages follow which are likely to be affected by strong winds. It is clear that team leaders will have to be attentive from early on.

For Roche, the goal is to be patient, to avoid losing time while also seeking to preserve as much energy as possible for the mountains.

“It is obviously that I won’t be aggressive in the first week, I will try to save as much energy as possible and try to get the legs into good shape,” he said. “At the same time, I will need to keep in contact with the other GC guys – there is no point in having fresh legs if I am three minutes behind.

“The finish on Saturday is pretty hard, pretty nasty. But then again it is the Tour, so there might not be big gaps. It is definitely going to be the first effort, though, one where you will have to dig in. Of course, the Mur de Bretagne follows a few days afterwards and that will be a tough finish.

“As regards the team time trial, we have a solid team, including Christophe Riblon, who just got second in the French championships. There are a couple of good guys there to get it organised. So hopefully we can have good time trial and not lose too much.”

Providing the first week goes to plan, he will have a decent period to settle into the race and allow the form he had going into the Dauphiné to return. There’s no way of knowing exactly how good he’ll be, but his strong ride in last year’s Tour plus his excellent seventh overall in the 2010 Tour of Spain shows, if he can get back to top form, he can aim high. In fact, being a year older and more experienced means he hopes to step it up another level.

“I will just take it day by day and make my programme around that,” he said. “I am still sticking to my goal of taking top-10 in the general classification, that is very important for me. I have done an ideal preparation until my crash, so hopefully with things now getting back in line and my body recovering, the work will come back out.”

This year’s race will have some unwelcome – if not uncommon – publicity given last year’s winner Alberto Contador opens his defence with a large question mark over him. He tested positive for clenbuterol in last year’s Tour, blamed food contamination and was unexpectedly cleared without any sanction by the Spanish cycling federation in February.

Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, and the World Anti Doping Agency appealed that decision, but the hearing has been delayed until August; if Contador should win again but then be found guilty, he would likely lose his 2010 Tour title, his 2011 Giro d’Italia victory and the yellow jersey from this year’s race. That would be disastrous for the sport.

Roche isn’t happy with the uncertainty, but he is reserving judgment.

“There is not much to be said until he is proven right or wrong,” he said. “If he is proven wrong, it’s terrible for the sport and he should be suspended. If he is clean, he should be left alone.

“Either way, this definitely should have been settled before. For the good of everything, the verdict should have been decided before the start of the Tour.

“It doesn’t make sense that it has taken this long and there isn’t an answer. That’s very frustrating.”

Like many, Roche lists Contador as one of the favourites. He also nominates the runner-up in 2009 and 2010, Andy Schleck, as one to watch, as well as Italian Ivan Basso, Australian Cadel Evans and Britain’s Bradley Wiggins. He’ll hope to be there, too, slugging it out against the sport’s top names in the mountains.

If he is, he is confident his team will give him full support. He and French team-mate Jean Christophe Peraud will start as joint leaders, but, if Roche proves stronger, he will get full backing.

One of those expected to ride for him is Gadret, the rider who refused to give him his wheel 12 months ago. The climber broke team orders then, compounding the situation by attacking, and this prompted Roche to roast him in his Tour diary.

“I wanted to smash his head in. I couldn’t stand to be near him,” he said, letting fly for much of the piece.

Twelve months on, the situation has settled down and he expects they will have a professional relationship.

“Things are fine,” he insisted. “I am not going to go for New Year’s dinner or a barbeque with him, but there is no problem with work. We will get the race done. I don’t think there’s any worries about that.”

Lay of the land: The key stages

THREE weeks, 3,430km and 23 climbs rated category two or higher; this year's Tour is one for the climbers. There are just two races against the clock in the mainly anti-clockwise route: tomorrow's 23km team time trial, then the penultimate day's 42.5km individual test around Grenoble, writes Shane Stokes.

In contrast, there are six days in the high mountains, as well as two short, steep finishes in the first week which could see the more explosive riders gain a slight lead.

Looking at those mountain days, there are four key stages. The first big mountains come on stage 12, where three peaks will be scaled: the new Hourquette d'Ancizan, the famed Tourmalet and the summit finish to Luz-Ardiden, which is back in the race for the first time in eight years.

Two days later another gruelling stage rears up, with the last big Pyrenean mountain stage taking the riders across six summits, namely the Col de Portet-d'Aspet, the Col de la Core, the Col de Latrape, the Col d'Agnes, the Port de Lers, and then the fifth finish on the Plateau de Beille. Each of the previous winners there went on to take the Tour itself, so the climb is historically significant.

Following a mountainous stage to Pinerolo, the next big summit finish is on Thursday, July 21st, when the riders race to the highest stage end this year, the 2,645m-high Galiber-Serre Chevalier. It includes two climbs before the finish, the Col Agnel and the Col d'Izoard, and is regarded by many as likely to be the decisive showdown.

There will be one last uphill battle one day later, though, over the Col du Télégraphe, the Col du Galibier and the legendary summit finish of Alpe du Huez. Just 109km long, the final mountain stage is likely to be raced very aggressively. With the final time trial coming the next afternoon, the climbers will seek to exploit their last chance to attack those who are stronger against the clock.

The contenders

DESPITE the shadow hanging over him due to his clenbuterol positive, defending champion Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank SunGard starts this year's race as the clear favourite. He's won nine races this year, including two stages and the overall classification of the Giro d'Italia, and is aiming to be the first to take the rare Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998, writes Shane Stokes.

In contrast, double runner-up Andy Schleck, now of Leopard Trek, has had a much quieter year, with third in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and eighth in the Tour of California his best results. The Luxembourg rider is emphasising freshness over season-long fitness, believing that a more measured approach will give him more reserves for the difficult third week.

Australian Cadel Evans, with BMC Racing Team, is seeking to combine those approaches, having picked up wins in the Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Romandie stage races, but also taking time away from competition. He finished second in the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, and, while he looked under pressure in the mountains, he said he was perfectly on course for a strong Tour.

The unexpected winner there, Bradley Wiggins of Sky Procycling, is also upbeat, and believes he is ready to equal or better his fourth place of 2009.

In truth, quite a few riders could battle for that third step on the podium: Dutch climber Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Belgium's Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma Lotto), the Italian Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervélo), Americans Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cerveo), Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack), plus the latter duo's team-mates Andreas Klöden and Janez Brajkovic.

They all will be in with a chance, and are very difficult to split before the drop of the flag.

Nicolas Roche, too, will aim to be there among them.