Valverde says Alps to decide overall winner

By Julien Pretot

BREST, France (Reuters) - Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde said on Friday that the Tour de France which starts on Saturday will be decided during three gruelling stages in the Alps.

The Caisse d'Epargne rider is among the hot favourites for the world's top cycle race, which runs from July 5-27, and showed his form with victories in the Dauphine Libere and the Spanish championships last month.

"The three Alpine stages will be very hard. The decision will be made there," the 28-year-old rider told a news conference.

"The toughest stage will be the one climbing to the Alpe d'Huez. It is not only the stage in itself but also the fact that there will be the fatigue from the previous weeks and the two previous stages in the Alps."

The stage from Embrun will be the 17th of the race with two out-of-category passes on the menu before the 13.8-km climb to intimidating the Alpe d'Huez.

"There will probably be huge gaps at the end of this stage because we will all be at the limit after more than two weeks of efforts," added Valverde, who was sixth overall last year.

If he is to win his first major Tour, Valverde and his team mates will not only have to control the attacks of Australian Cadel Evans but also those of CSC's Carlos Sastre of Spain and the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank.

ATTACKS WAITING