Upcoming: 35th Tour Méditerranéen, February 13-17

Jens Voigt leads a group in the 2005 Med Tour. He went on to win the overall that year

Southeast France will be the site of the 35th Tour Méditerranéen, or Med Tour as it's known in America, kicks off. A race rich in history, past winners include Jens Voigt, Paolo Bettini, Laurent Jalabert, Tony Rominger, and the greatest of them all, Eddy Merckx.

Merckx won virtually every race there was to win during the span of his career, including the Med Tour

Last year's winner will be there as well, as Caisse d'Epargne's Ivan Gutiérrez will look to repeat for the first time in the history of the event. He'll be challenged by a solid field lead by seven Pro Tour teams. Additionally, the powerful Agritubel, Slipstream, and Tinkoff teams will lend additional firepower to the race.

Ivan Gutiérrez will try to meditate his way to becoming the first ever repeat champ at the Med Tour

There are several intriguing riders to watch in the 2008 Med Tour. Mikhail Ignatiev, the 22 year old Russian track phenom of the Tinkoff squad, took a stage last year and could again in this year's edition. He likes to attack in the 3-5 kilometer to go range, using his superior time trialing skills and big motor.

Built in the mold of Jens Voigt, Ignatiev could make the Med Tour his in 2008

Thor Hushovd will also be in France, looking to have his team keep the race together so he can unleash his powerful sprint. He debuted at the Tour of California in 2007 and couldn't net a stage win, so he'll try his hand in France for 2008.

Thor will look to add a stage win or two to his resume at the Med Tour ahead of Milan San Remo and Het Volk

Finally, the American from Slipstream, Patrick McCarty, will be looking to find the right break to escape from the field. The 25 year old former Discovery and Phonak rider is widely underrated and could make a splash by calling on the knowledge he collected riding with Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and all of the postal dynasty from 2005-06.

McCarty will search for the right break to try his luck in a smaller group

La Crau will play host to the first stage of the event, kicking off a week of relatively flat riding. The toughest day for the field will no doubt be stage three from Rousset to Toulon. A catagory 2 climb will start things off before the field is hit with a 9 kilometer catagory 1 test at the 23 kilometer mark. After an up and down second half of the race, another steep catagory 1 climb, this one only 3 kilometers long and leading up to the finish line, should nevertheless allow one or two riders to battle it out ahead of the rest of the field. Riders to watch for stage three are David Moncoutié, the veteran of the Cofidis team, Credit Agricole's Alexandre Botcharov, the small Russian climber, and Jimmy Casper, formerly of Francaise des Jeux and now of the French team Agritubel.

No joke: Mont Faron offers a nice early season test to the field in the 2008 Med Tour

A wild card sprinter to watch is Max Van Heeswijk, previously of the Rabobank and Discovery Channel teams and now riding for the small Willens Veranda team. The wily sprinter will no doubt mix it up with mighty Thor, and has a strong enough finishing kick, when on form, to compete with the best.

Van Heeswijk, here shown in his earlier days at Mapei, could snag a sprint win at the Med Tour