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It starts today with a 9 km Prologue from Rotterdam.

Some in depth writing on the Tour will come tomorrow.

In my earlier preview of the USA, I discussed this group in some depth. But let’s take a look at England (who the US will face tomorrow afternoon),Slovenia and Algeria.

England is one of the tournament favorite and features one of the best players in the world in ManU’s Wayne Rooney. England is a heavy favorite in the group and with good reason – it is filled with all star players. However, England has 2 major problems – its keepers are pedestrian at best and Rio Ferdinand is injured. Nonetheless, this is a weak group and England should easily sail through to the next round.

Slovenia surprised Russia to qualify for the Finals. But it is certainly no powerhouse and is at best the third favorite on the group.

Algeria came through by knocking off African power Egypt. Again, it is weaker team who is not likely to go through, absent a big slipup by the United States.

My picks – 1- England, 2- US, 3- slovenia, 4 – Algeria.

Paris-Nice is an 8 day cycling race that travels from, um, Paris to Nice. It is an important race. Here is a good preview. And here is my translation of a story on the views of cycling king Alberto Contador on the race:

Two time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador acknowledged that he arrives in good form for the next edition of Paris-Nice. [. . .] in which he will compete with the Olympic champion, Samuel Sánchez, the last winner of the Vuelta de Espana, Alejandro Valverde, and Luxemburger Franck Schleck, among others. [. . .]

“I am in good form, although I’ve done little training since the Vuelta al Algarve. I had a chill, a consequence of the rain in Portugal, but despite that I think I am in good form,” said Contador.

In last year’s Paris-Nice, the cyclist from Pinto (Madrid) suffered a spectacular meltdown, but he say he has no desire to “avenge” last year’s result. “That was a valuable experience that taught me that you never be careless about anything and you must be calm and calculating about all aspects of a race.” said Contador.

The Astana leader stated that [. . .] his team “intends to fight for the victory and to be in the fight, although it will be difficult to win. There are strong cyclists, like Luis León [Sanchez] or Valverde, who have more days of competition this year. Alejandro already knows what winning feels like this year,in the tour of the Mediterranean and raced in Australia and Almería. At the beginning of the year, recent race competition is very notable. But in a race like París-Nice, the group of favorites is wide.. Here are included Samuel Sánchez, Frank Schleck, Sandy Casar o [Sylvain] Chavanel”, said Contador.

In his view, París-Nice 2010 could be decided by a narrow margin and pointed to the climbing finish in Mende as “short and explosive.” “We climbed it in 2007 and the differences were minimal. This year the race will be decided by a few seconds and the bonuses will be important. The last 3 days in the mountains will be difficult to control. The podium placements will be a question of seconds,” Contador said.

To achieve victory [in Sunday's time trial prologue], Contador will be counting on his new time trial bike, which is being shipped from the US. “I will time trial as well as I can given the course. It has no climbs, it is flat for most of the 8 kms. Despite this, I expect to be among the leaders. Last year I won the time trial but I don’t think I can repeat that this year, ” Contador said.