The Skoda Tour of Luxembourg brings the pro cycling peloton into June, and the one month countdown to the Tour de France begins for many of the GC favorites. Those riders that participated in the Giro probably will be home resting, but many other top Tour hopes are lining up for Luxembourg looking for early June racing ahead of the Dauphine or Tour de Swiss, the final stage races before the Tour.
Lance Armstrong, after crashing out of the Tour of California, returns to racing again looking to find his form ahead of an attempt at an eighth Tour title. For bad or good, Armstrong just hasn't logged that many racing days. He rode a strong SRAM Tour of the Gila in support of Radioshack teammate Levi Leipheimer and was looking strong at the Tour of California before his crash, but all in all he has far less racing miles under his belt than originally planned at the start of the year. Still, Armstrong is very hard to bet against. This is a polished veteran who knows his body and how to prep for the Tour. Expect him to use June, starting with the Tour of Luxembourg, to its fullest extent as he looks for one more Tour title.
Frank Schleck too is at his home tour, not a huge surprise. Schleck like Armstrong has had few race days due to injury and sickness, but he too is a veteran capable of finding form fast. He'll be option 1A for Saxo at the Tour behind his brother Andy, and an overall win at Luxembourg would help the elder Schleck's confidence heading into the meat of his season.
Katyusha's Kim Kirchen is a rider to watch in Luxembourg, as another hometown favorite trying to add a win to his palmares ahead of the Tour. Kirchen, more so than any big stage race rider this season, has been absent from the front of races all year. Like Armstrong and Frank Schleck, Kirchen desperately needs racing miles in his legs. Expect him to turn his season around in a big way starting at Luxembourg, where he'll be one of the favorites for victory.
Also in Luxembourg is the Sky team, who will bring several of their big domestiques to the race as they make Tour team bids. Among these, look for Kurt Asle-Arvesen, Thomas Lovkvist, Simon Gerrans and Kjell Carlstrom to solidify their spots on the Sky Tour team, as they look to put Brad Wiggins onto the top step of the podium come July.
The Tour of Luxembourg is everything a Tour de France prep race should be. Many sharp hills populate each stage of the parcours, providing ideal training for the Tour hopefuls. At the end of the race, each Tour GC rider will hope that they've stayed upright and safe throughout the week. If so, each will be able to claim that they have strongly helped their Tour bid in a month's time.
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