THE TOUR DE FRANCE STARTS SATURDAY

The 2008 Tour de France starts in Brest, Brittany on Saturday. Here on www.cyclingweekly.com we've compiled a comprehensive guide to the Tour to make sure you're fully up to speed before the big event starts.

The race kicks off tomorrow morning with the first road stage from Brest to Plumelec (Saturday, July 5). It's a 197.5km lumpy stage that promises to produce an exciting first day of racing - expect plenty of attacks and breaks as riders try and capture the first yellow jersey of 2008. You can read all about the first stage in our preview, complete with maps and profile.

We've compiled a full list of every rider who will be lining up for the race tomorrow, including information on all 20 teams.

Still in the dark about who might win? Same here, but it hasn't stopped us from sticking our necks out and giving you our top ten predictions for the race. You can always have a go at predicting who will win overall (and each stage) yourself in our vibrant forum Tour de France prediction league.

If you are one of the lucky people who are actually going over to France to watch the race over the coming weeks, then we've put together a guide on how to get the best out of watching the Tour in person.

The riders are already limbering up for the main event with the traditional team presentations and press conferences. We've put together a gallery of photos from the official Tour 2008 presentation in Brest, which is your first chance to see the new Team Columbia, Garmin-Chipotle and CSC-Saxo Bank team kit.

Over the next three weeks we will be covering the 2008 Tour de France comprehensively here on www.cyclingweekly.com and in Cycling Weekly magazine. In our online Tour de France section you'll find the latest news and stage reports, as well as a whole host of other information about the Tour.

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