The road racing season is already off to a great start for 2011. Back in April Belgian Johan Vansummeren won a shock victory in the ‘monument’ classic of the Paris Roubaix beating favourite Fabian Cancellara in the ‘hell of the north’ by 19 seconds.

May saw the first of the grand tours with the Giro d’Italia. Alberto Contador claimed victory in Milan with his second Giro d’Italia title. Team Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis made no secret of his desire to see Contador take all 3 grand tours in the 2011 season. As a former winner of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, if Contador is successful he will be the first cyclist to achieve the feat.

Everyone in the road racing community is looking forward to the start of the Tour de France on the 2nd of July. The biggest of the grand tours is for most the highlight of the season. This year Alberto Contador is favourite with odds of 4/6, closely followed by Andy Schlek at 2/1. The pair finished 1st and 2nd last year with Contador winning by 39 seconds. The exact amount of time Andy Schlek lost when as yellow jersey his chain came off on the mountainous stage 11. Will he get his revenge this year? The favourite Brit is Olympian Bradley Wiggins at 25/1, his best place 4th finish was a real coup for British cycling, can he do better this year?

We will be following Le Tour stage by stage starting in July