Aussies Abroad: Le Tour, Golf, Motorsport and... Hot Dogs?? You bet!

International sports and betting nut Sam Taylor gives us a guided tour of the fortunes of some select Australian athletes - some conventional, some not so - as they ply their trade and fly the Aussie flag overseas.

CYCLING
While its early days in the 3-week, 3554km sideshow that is the 2008 Tour de France, Aussie Cadel Evans remains on track to become the first ever Australian to win cycling's holy grail.

Evans started the race as a firm favourite (approx 3.5 to back on Betfair) after finishing runner-up to Alberto Contador last year (Contador is not riding the 2008 TDF after a change of teams), and appears to have settled in well and will be looking to make his move when the Tour moves into the Alps and Pyrenees.

With his Silence-Lotto team committed to seeing the 31-year-old finishing at the head of the pack come July 27, Aussie punters will be glued to the SBS coverage each night of Le Tour to cheer Evans on.

The fact the Silence-Lotto team are focussed on maximising Evans' chances suggests former Green jersey winner Robbie McEwen (also on the Silence-Lotto team) will have his work cut-out in the sprint finishes, but McEwen has an uncanny knack of knowing just the right time to impose himself and would not surprise if he snatches a stage win at decent odds.

Another Aussie capable of sneaking a stage win is 2003 Green Jersey winner Baden Cooke who has switched to the Barloworld team and is keen to re-find the form of years gone by.

Rider to watch: Trent Lowe. Like Evans, Lowe is a former world junior MTB champion now focussing on road racing. Expected to perform well in the mountains, may surprise a few in the White Jersey standings and the 23-year-old will be one to watch over the coming years.

GOLF
It was a great result for the Aussie golfers in the USPGA AT&T National at the Congressional Country Club over the weekend with Nick O'Hern, Rod Pampling and Robert Allenby finished tied for third place.

Looking ahead to the upcoming weekend's golfing calendar (both in the US and Europe) suggests the Aussie contingent could well be thereabouts come Sunday afternoon.

Adam Scott heads the Aussie charge at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, the world number 4 looking to become the first Australian since Wayne Riley (in 1995) to win the Scottish title.
While depending on what price is available, Richard Green to make the Top 10 could be worth a minor investment.

In the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, Aaron Baddeley is one of the headline starters and is more than capable of taking the title while Nathan Green tied for 3rd last year and will be itching to claim a larger share of the $US4.2m up for grabs.

MOTORSPORT
The MotoGP circus this weekend heads to Germany with reigning world champion Casey Stoner looking to make it back-to-back wins after taking the chocolates at the Dutch GP at Assen two weeks ago.

Stoner (who is now 3rd on the championship standings with 142 points- 29 behind leader Dani Pedrosa and 25 behind 2nd placed Valentino Rossi) will have taken plenty of confidence from his win at Assen and should again be a major player in Germany on board his flying Ducati.

In Formula 1, Mark Webber surprised most by qualifying on P2 for the British GP at Silverstone (his best qualifying result by far) but the honey-moon did not last long during the main race- the Aussie Red Bull driver spinning out on the first lap and falling to the rear of the field before recovering to finish 10th.

Webber will need to find a way to take his qualifying form into the main race ahead of the German GP on July 18-20.

LEFTFIELD
With 4th of July celebrations taking place all across the USA last weekend, New York was the place to be for the annual Nathan's US Hotdog Eating contest where defending champion Joey Chestnut beat Takeru Kobayashi in a 5 dog eat-off after both competitors finished on 59 hotdogs after the regulation 10 minutes.

No disrespect to Chestnut or Kobayashi (both legends of the eating community), but surely Australia could put forward some entries to take these guys on.

Leading the charge for potential Aussie candidates is one David Clarence Boon, the former Australian opener and current selector has shown 52 beers pose no fears- just think what he could do with a few coldies to wash the dogs down.

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