It's that time of year again, when all eyes turn to France- or in this case, the Netherlands, Belgium, then France- for the world's biggest bike race. This year the Tour kicks off with a Grand Départ in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, coming on the heels of the Amsterdam start for the Giro d'Italia in May. It's a big time for the Dutch, as their soccer team advanced to the semi finals of the World Cup on the eve of the Tour's prologue time trial.

Anticipation is a wonderful thing. There's a lot of anticipation for any Tour, but this year's race seems to have a build-up comparable or even greater than last year's. Much of that revolves around Lance Armstrong and the fate of his comeback to the sport. Whereas last year's Tour posed the question of how well Armstrong would fare in his first year back, this year we get to wonder how he will do in what he recently announced would indeed be his final Tour.

Of arguably greater interest than the condition of Armstrong alone- and whether he will have the legs to challenge for his eighth Tour title- is the breadth of the field set to challenge for the yellow jersey. Alberto Contador enters as the heavy favorite. The Schleck brothers both look capable of battling for yellow this year, particularly with Frank's improved time trial skills he demonstrated en route to victory in the Tour de Suisse. Cadel Evans is always a contender (except when he self-destructs mid-race) and has shown impressive riding all year.

Indeed, a host of others will line up with thoughts in mind of reaching Paris in yellow. Bradley Wiggins will lead Team Sky's Tour debut, while Christian Vande Velde homes to bounce back from injury to improve on his best-ever fourth place overall. Robert Gesink, Denis Menchov, and Carlos Sastre have high hopes too.

Anticipation mounts for the stages we hope will make the difference as well. With no first week time trials this year (individual or team), the prologue will offer the only glimpse into who is riding well against the clock. The story will be much different by the time the peloton emerges from the Pyrenees to contest the only long individual time trial in the final days of racing.

Then there's stage 3, featuring a number of cobblestone sections from the dreaded Paris-Roubaix classic. Just as with the Mont Ventoux stage in 2009, this seems to be the one stage everyone is talking about. The GC favorites who don't take the initiative to ride up front and avoid the inevitable crashes and bottlenecks over the cobbled back roads will rue the day Christian Prudhomme decided to inject some excitement into the first week of racing.

Finally, two tough days on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees will highlight a nice collection of mountain stages. But first we need to get over those cobbles.

Let the racing begin. As the Tour plays leadership will change hands and some riders will ebb and flow in their brilliance. But with potentially decisive stages sprinkled throughout the three weeks, the anticipation should continue throughout.