Tour de France Dark Horse Haimar Zubeldia Looking Good for July

A great climber, Zubeldia also posesses excellent time trialing skills, which make him a top grand tour rider

Haimar Zubeldia is not a name that is usually mentioned when speaking about the favorites for the Tour de France. A lesser known Spaniard who rides for the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team, Zubeldia hasn't won a race since 2000, but has finished in the top ten in three of the last five TdF editions, including 5th in both last year's and 2003's edition.

Zubeldia is riding very well ahead of this year's Tour, and is sitting in 8th place overall at the Dauphine Libere. He has ridden a controlled race, and showed that his form is on track ahead of the French grand tour. The wild card for Zubeldia in determining his success in the Tour will be, as always, his undermanned Basque team. Although goo in the mountains, Euskaltel will have trouble controlling the peloton should Zubeldia find himself in the leader's jersey early on in the Tour.

Euskaltel-Euskadi is a special team in that every single rider on the squad must be Basque. That is, they must be from a small region in northern Spain in the western Pyranees. The region is known for its passion for cycling, and has produced several high profile cyclists, including Zubeldia, Iban Mayo, Joseba Beloki, Abraham Olano, and "Big Mig," Miguel Indurain, winner of five editions of the Tour de France.

Zubeldia knows how to suffer in the long climbs, and will be a rider to watch in the high mountains of this years Tour

Zubeldia will have outright leadership of his team in 2008, and should be expected to go at least top ten in this year's edition. At 31 years old, he is in the prime of his cycling career and must envision 2008 as one of his best chances at the overall title. With a bit of luck and some chutzpah though, Zubeldia could find himself on the podium of the biggest bicycle race in the world. Some will be surprised if that happens, but they should't be. Zubeldia, although not as well known as Alejandro Valverde or Cadel Evans, possesses just as much fire power and experience as his advesaries, and is a worthy candidate for the yellow jersey in the 2008 Tour.