Le Tour: Josenka's Five to Watch

The invitation to post "five riders to watch" could not be resisted by me so, um, here I am posting. I do hope the fine editors, in their infinite editing wisdom, here do not plan on grading these posts by some arbitrary means, like determining who is "the bestest" cyclist ever. Here are the chosen:

Martin Elmiger (SUI/Ag2r-La Mondiale) Star Trek has its anonymous Red Shirts who disappear throughout the episodes; the same can be said of any champion Swiss rider at races where Fabian Cancellara is present. If Elmiger, current road champion of above named nation, seeks to impress then, well, he will do what all members of French teams are taught to do: join the breakaway bunch. Just one impressive stage win would spruce up his modest résumé. Of course he will be riding for the likes of Cyril Dessel and/or Nicholas Roche, but surely he can be allowed to have bigger wins than the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque? His career ceratinly hopes so if he is to receive due attention from his homeland.

John Gadret (FRA/Ag2r-La Mondiale) The French cyclocross champion with many piercings has turned mountain goat. It may have taken his legs some time, as in years, to adapt to this demanding terrain but his last two Grand Tour results speak for themselves: 18th at the Vuelta and 13th at the Giro. At that most mountainous Giro, he finished third on the Plan de Corones time trial to Steven Garzelli and Cadel Evans. Why, at this rate, he could be the next Laurent Jalabert! If his fitness has not betrayed him, he may challenge the likes of David Moncoutié, Juan Mauricio Soler, and the entire roster of Euskatel-Euskadi for the Polka Dots--unless he would prefer not to have his career cursed.

Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS/Team Katusha) No longer does he ride in the shadows of others at Saxo Bank. The promise and the potential he has shown, especially at World Championships, exploded in 2009; there were no outright victories but he demonstrated his right to leadership in the Ardennes. This year, thus far, his greatest success has been to finish second on the controversial Alexander-centric Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium. Fresh off victory for the Russian road race title, he will have more than one motivation to feature himself in breakaways on hilly stages: this will be his first Tour de France; he is certain to animate breakaways with teammate Sergei Ivanov so that Footon-Servetto and Frenchmen do not occupy all camera time. 

Denis Menchov (RUS/Rabobank) Like Yeti, sightings of him are few and far between. When he appears the results can be spectacular--or terrifying; whatever happens, he is guaranteed to demonstrate his lethal bike handling skills on all sorts of terrain. After the debacle at the first Monaco stage, being caught by the human motor himself, he is in need of justifying his leadership status even with three Grand Tour titles to his name. His 2010 palmarès are less than inspiring, the only noteworthy results being from Murcia and Romandie; his best is second place overall in Murcia. What is this alleged "silent killer" to do? Attack! If Cadel Evans has learned the art of the well-timed attack than Menchov ought to apply it to at least earn stage victories because Grand Tour contenders need more than time trial abilities to make up those darn time gaps.

Luke Roberts (AUS/Milram)With all these Aussies invading the peloton, Roberts is lost; he is also lost at Milram which is all about Deutschland diva Linus "Lady Gaga" Gerdemann, obviously, of course. Nevermind his less-than-inspiring results this year, why watch this aging racer? He has returned after two years away from the ProTour with respectable results at the Tour Down Under and the Vuelta a Murcia; and he assisted Der Leenos to 16th at the Giro. Because Der Leenos is not known to be able to complete two Grand Tours per year that gives every Mooman the opportunity to race for himself so, um, look out for Luke! Remember, he finished second behind Lulu Sánchez on the most famous hill in Australia: Willunga.