Team Leopard Trek may be new to Le Tour, but their riders are not.  Andy and Frank Schleck are contenders for the prized yellow jersey.  Cancellara is outrageously fast.  Linus Gerdemann, Stuart O'Grady, and Jens Voigt are all fierce competitors.  This is a stacked team, and clearly one to watch.  "We have developed our new team, aiming for a fresh and innovative style. Of utmost importance, though, is to take cycling back to its proper roots. Its all about the racing," explained the team's...Read Full Story

Before the 98th Tour de France kicked off this morning on the Atlantic coast, a doping scandal already loomed over the peloton. The favorite, Spain’s Alberto Contador, already tested positive for a banned drug last year. But with the legal wrangling still in process, he’s being allowed to compete and could well win his fourth Tour victory before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decides his case. If Contador wins the race but loses the case, that would make this the second Tour in five...Read Full Story

CTV.caFactbox: Spain's Alberto ContadorReuters(Reuters) - Factbox on three-times Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who was given a two-year ban on Monday over a failed dope test during the 2010 race: Turns professional with the Spanish Once-Eroski team in 2003 and wins the individual ...Chronology: Alberto Contador's doping caseChicago TribuneAlberto Contador stripped of Tour titleESPNall 732 news articles »Read Full Story

PARIS (Reuters) - While arch-rival Alberto Contador was making headlines for the right and the wrong reasons, Andy Schleck spent a low-key season gearing up for the Tour de France.Third place in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in May has been the Luxembourg rider's sole major podium spot in 2011. The only other honor for the twice Tour runner-up was the best climber's jersey in the recent Tour of Switzerland."My whole season was built around the Tour. So far I have not had any problem and I...Read Full Story

MURAT, France (Reuters) - Alberto Contador, nursing a troublesome knee problem, has nevertheless piled the pressure on major rivals the Schleck brothers by declaring that the duo must attack soon if they are to have any chance.The Spaniard, a three-times Tour champion, has crashed twice since the race started on July 2 but Monday was enjoying the first rest day of the three-week race as the Tour prepares to head toward the fearsome Pyrenees climbs."Yesterday, I hurt the same knee as the first...Read Full Story