Andreas KlodenAndreas Kloden is one of this year's leading contenders behind favourites Alexandre Vinokourov and Alejandro Valverde and is heading into the tour in good form.
Back in March the 31-year-old, who now represents the Astana team following his switch from T-Mobile at the end of last year, claimed the 42nd Tirreno-Adriatico race ahead of Vinokourov, who finished third.
Kloden has all the right attributes to finish on the podium. He's tall and lightly built yet has enough core strength and stamina to keep with the pace and last the distance.
Having turned professional in 1998 when joining what is now the T-Mobile team, the German rose to prominence in 2000 as he picked up two superb overall victories in the Paris-Nice and Vuelta al Pais Vasco as well as obtaining the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics behind Jan Ullrich and Vinokourov.
However despite these successes and his obvious talents, Kloden has suffered numerous injury problems over the following three years which looked like permanently blighting his chances of carving out a career of greatness.
In 2004 he was back on track in a big way and started what turned out to be a sensation season by winning the German National Road Racing Championships. Then Kloden shocked the cycling world by stealing overall second place from Italian Ivan Basso in the final time trial of the Tour de France despite beginning the event as a mere domestique for Ullrich, who could only finish fourth. The following year he unfortunately was forced to withdraw during the 17th stage through injury but in 2006 he started as one of the favourites due to the absence of Ullrich, Basso and Vinokourov. In what was the closest three-way finish in the tour's history - just one minute 29 seconds separating the top three - Kloden had to settle for third behind winner Floyd Landis and Oscar Pereiro. However he could yet be promoted into a better position following the results of the doping allegations which marred the 2006 tour.
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