Contador starts as favourite in Giro

Embattled Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will start as favourite when the 2011 Giro d’Italia begins in Turin today with a 19.3km team time-trial.

Contador won the Giro the only year in which he participated in the race, in 2008, but comes into this three-week epic without the element of surprise and with a cloud hanging over his head.

The Spaniard is still awaiting a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which could overturn a Spanish cycling federation decision to clear him of any wrongdoing following a positive test for clenbuterol at last year’s Tour de France.

Controversy aside, Contador has shown that when it comes to Grand Tours, and even one-week stage races, he is the man to beat. He is defending a record of not having lost any of the Grand Tours he has competed in these past five years.

Contador insists he is going for victory but says the pressure will be on Italian rivals Vincenzo Nibali and Michele Scarponi.

“I’m sure that riders such as Nibali and Scarponi will be under more pressure than me,” said Contador, probably mindful of the Italian peloton’s poor season to date.

Nibali and Scarponi will present the major home challenge in the absence of last year’s winner Ivan Basso, who is concentrating on the Tour this year.

The course features two individual time-trials, one of which will be a mountain time-trial while the other is just 31.5km. While they could play a decisive role, the numerous and brutal mountain stages are expected to separate the pretenders from the contenders well before then.

Contador’s other rivals include Russian Denis Menchov, who won in 2009 but didn’t race last year.

Another Spaniard, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and compatriot Igor Anton (Euskaltel) will also be looking for a top finish.