Controversy looms for 101st Tour de France

PARIS – Tour de France defending champion Chris Froome is feeling the pressure ahead of Saturday’s start to the 2014 race.

This 101st Tour might seem to favor Team Sky and Froome, but he will have a lot on his mind during the three-week race which starts in Leeds, in the northern English county of Yorkshire.

The Kenyan-born Brit is dealing with a perception among some fans that he had a hand in Sky’s decision to bench his popular compatriot and teammate Sir Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour.

He also was caught up in a recent doping firestorm. Froome, who insists he has never used banned drugs, said in an interview that he cried privately over scrutiny of his use of a medication for a chest infection during a recent race, even though it was permitted because he had a doctor’s note.

That incident showed the sport is still hounded by doping suspicions.

Froome also faces two-time Tour champ Alberto Contador, who last won in 2009. The 31-year-old Spaniard has made winning this Tour a top priority.

Cycling’s doping shadows will also be cast upon Contador, who lost his 2010 title in a doping case.

The 2014 Tour may be more of a challenge than last year. In its 21 stages, spanning 2,277 miles in England, France, Belgium and Spain, only one time trial awaits.

That harms the prospects of reigning three-time world time-trial champion Tony Martin of Germany, but also puts a brake on Froome, who gained more than two minutes total on Contador over last year’s individual time trials.

The only time-trial in the 2014 race will come in the penultimate stage: a 33.6-mile trial. The last time the race had just one time trial stage was 1953.

There will be a strong crop of U.S. riders including Andrew Talansky, who beat Froome and Contador at the Criterium du Dauphine in June, and Tejay van Garderen, the best young rider in the 2012 Tour.