FORMER champion Alberto Contador gave the route announced for the 2009 Tour de France his approval yesterday, but warned the penultimate stage climb to Mont Ventoux would present a severe test for any leader.
The Spaniard, who won the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta this year, was unable to defend his Tour title after his Astana team were not invited because of their past doping record.
"I like this Tour de France," Contador, triumphant on the French road
s in 2007, said. "I really think that everything will be decided before the Mont Ventoux, but for the one wearing the yellow jersey at this moment, there will be a terrible pressure. In the head, it will be extremely tough."
This year's winner, Carlos Sastre, of Spain, said the route was so tough he would "not even think of winning".
"There are some tough passes, but also very hard parts between the mountain stages," he said.
The outcome of the Tour de France is usually decided in the final time trial, but next year the solo effort against the clock will take place three days before the arrival in Paris.
The peloton will have to climb up the intimidating Mont Ventoux two stages later at a 7.6 average gradient over 21.2 kilometres, in a day that could hurt even the best climbers.
The Spaniard, arguably the best stage-race rider in the world, added: "The more I look at the map, the more I like it.
There is also this wonderful finish in Barcelona (stage 6] that makes me dream, at the summit of the Montjuic hill where I won when I was young. To do it again would be fantastic."
Seven-times winner Lance Armstrong, who is coming out of retirement after a three-year break, never won at the summit of the "Provence Giant" in five combined attempts on the Dauphine Libere race and the Tour.
