July 2, 2008 - Ready to roll, are we..? It's hard to believe that almost twelve months ago, the Tour de France resembled a broken and dishevelled institution, shorn of its status as one of the great sporting events in the world - shorn too, and at the last minute, of its troubled race-leader, Michael Rasmussen. Yet here we are again, rejuvenated and so expectant on the eve of another Tour, craving to get the racing underway and to show the watching world that cycling - and the Tour - is a credible entity once again. For all the trouble and consternation last year's Tour created, can you imagine this sport without the great race to lead us all on? No, of course not - the Tour will always be there, and I for one am extremely grateful for that.

So what can we expect from the race this time around? Great racing, yes - clean racing as well, we must hope. Essentially what is needed is a Tour devoid of the troubles that have hindered it since Lance Armstrong retired and took all the glory away with him - how dare he retire and abandon us to such a nasty fate! In fact, all the signs so far look good for this year's race, with new team sponsors eagerly signing up with squads like High Road (Columbia), CSC (Saxo Bank) and Slipstream (Garmin), and existing sponsors like Quick-Step coming back again to support their already lengthy investment in the sport; I'm also expecting Credit Agricole to announce a replacement sponsor for the French team for 2009, sometime during the race. Right on cue, to heal the wounds even more, we've finally had the finishing touches put to Floyd Landis's career, and even Rasmussen has been put out to grass for a few years or more - this Tour can't get a better start than that!

Sadly, the Tour organisers have kept Astana out, as they always said they would. But it means there's no defending champion yet again - now that's a shame for the public. No matter who wins this race, the champion will know Alberto Contador could have been the winner instead - perhaps the winner by a mile, based on his un-prepared victory in the Giro. Such is the Tour's soap-opera magnetism however, that Contador will barely be remembered once the real action starts barely one week into the race. He might then be remembered in the Pyrenees if, as expected, Spanish fans in support of Alejandro Valverde also take the time to ridicule the French for banning Contador's team. But by the time the race has passed through the Alps and made it to Paris, no matter if it is Valverde, Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov or Andy Schleck who has won, barely a word will be said of Contador - the Tour has that all-enveloping self-importance.

Can Evans win? Without doubt he's everyone's favourite so it seems, for the Australian has grown in stature so much since Armstrong retired. Back in 2005, Evans was perceived as something of a follower, a cyclist who looked as if he wanted to win but didn't have the strength to do so. Three years on, Evans has learned a lot about himself, slowly pushing himself harder and harder and finding there's still a bit more to give. Evans has also learned about the way in which potential Tour-winners are meant to race, hence the fact that we've seen him winning races this year as early as February and March - now what a nice surprise! Evans is most surely going to gain time over Valverde in the two medium-distance time trials, and he'll be more than a match for his rival in the mountains. So maybe we must look to Schleck to be the man in Evans way, or Menchov perhaps? The Luxemburger is as gifted a time trialist as he is a climber - and he's a very good climber indeed! The Russian sees the Tour as one last, great, challenge to be won - alongside his Volta victory last year.

I'll be trying to take things more leisurely this July, despite the fact that my workload seems, on paper at least, to be as massive as ever. It's incredible when each June comes along, when the e-mails start coming and the phone calls never cease, how many new clients need photography from the Tour. At a time of the year when we have Wimbledon tennis, the British Formula One Grand Prix, and the Beijing Olympics right around the corner, the Tour commands so much interest from the media and sponsors - may it never end! My leisure time is based on the luxury of having an assistant help me to upload images late at night - he'll do the uploading while I'm eating and drinking - and the realisation that this modern Tour has some seriously shorter stages than in the past. There are just four stages over a length of 200-kilometres, and even a few of less than 150-kilometres! Shorter stages mean later starts, and less need for cyclists to take any banned substances to recover. More importantly, it means this cycling photographer can drink a few extra glasses of wine each evening and recover in time to go for a bike ride on some mornings. Yes, the bicycle is coming with me to the Tour for the first time since 1983! The likes of Evans and Valverde need not fear me on a bike, but I know I'll be all the more motivated to photograph them, and the Tour, if I've ridden an hour or two myself prior to the stage. Allez, Allez!

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