BREST, France—Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde said on Friday that the Tour de France which starts on Saturday will be decided during three gruelling stages in the Alps.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider is among the hot favourites for the world's top cycle race, which runs from July 5-27, and showed his form with victories in the Dauphine Libere and the Spanish championships last month.
"The three Alpine stages will be very hard. The decision will be made there," the 28-year-old rider told a news conference.
"The toughest stage will be the one climbing to the Alpe d'Huez. It is not only the stage in itself but also the fact that there will be the fatigue from the previous weeks and the two previous stages in the Alps."
The stage from Embrun will be the 17th of the race with two out-of-category passes on the menu before the 13.8-km climb to intimidating the Alpe d'Huez.
"There will probably be huge gaps at the end of this stage because we will all be at the limit after more than two weeks of efforts," added Valverde, who was sixth overall last year.
If he is to win his first major Tour, Valverde and his team mates will not only have to control the attacks of Australian Cadel Evans but also those of CSC's Carlos Sastre of Spain and the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank.
Attacks Waiting
"In the third week, they will all attack, (Damiano) Cunego, Sastre, the Schlecks, Evans," he said.
"But it will be up to all teams, not only us, to control them."
Although Evans looks stronger for the time trials, Valverde showed in the Dauphine Libere he feared no one, beating Evans and Sastre in convincing style.
Valverde will be helped on the Tour by compatriot Oscar Pereiro, who won the 2006 Tour after Floyd Landis was found guilty of doping.
"I am here to be next to Alejandro. Anyway, I know that my best performances come when nobody is expecting me," said Pereiro.
Valverde, who beat seven-times Tour winner Lance Armstrong in a gruelling mountain stage in 2005, added: "We are a very strong team, both Oscar and myself are in very good shape but our team mates are also fit."
The Tour starts with Saturday's 197.5-km stage from Brest to Plumelec.
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