by Justin Davis

MONACO, July 3, 2009 (AFP) – Having a punctured lung blow back up to its full capacity in time for the Tour de France is one of the few positives that Australian cyclist Stuart O’Grady has been allowed to enjoy this season.

But as he prepares for another hard slog during the three-week epic he is aware that busting a gut to help another teammate win the coveted yellow jersey for the second consecutive year is likely to prove another painful affair.

O’Grady, part of the CSC team that helped Carlos Sastre win the race last year, almost never made Saxo Bank’s squad after he broke some more ribs and punctured a lung in a crash at the Milan-SanRemo in March.

Now recovered, albeit “just in the nick of time”, he is hoping his 13th Tour campaign will lead to a repeat of last year’s success, this time for one of the Schleck brothers Andy or Frank.

But he believes that despite Andy’s obvious talents – he was runner-up on the 2007 Giro d’Italia and won the Tour de France white jersey for the best placed rider aged 25 and under in 2008 – the Luxembourger can afford to be patient.

This year the race has been toughened with the return of the Astana team, absent last year but now in Monaco with Spanish ace Alberto Contador, the 2007 champion, seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, and two other potential challengers in Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden.

Add in Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Australian Cadel Evans (Silence) and Sastre, who is now leading the Cervelo team’s bid, and it places huge pressure on the shoulders of Andy on only his second participation.

Saxo Bank are confident in Schleck’s abilities but O’Grady admits that dealing with the huge psychological pressures that come with winning the Tour need to be digested slowly.

“To be honest I think Andy is still a bit young (to win the Tour), but it’s all experience. He has to be given that pressure, going through the motions and seeing how he performs,” said O’Grady here Thursday.

“He’s shown he’s got the talent, the engine’s there and now he’s just got to learn a bit of self-management, and that’s what we’re here for.

“We’re not just out there getting him water bottles, we’re kind of counseling him in a way and telling what to do and what not to do.

“He’s one of those guys that, in five years time, he’s going to have won the Tour, and he’ll win the Tour at least three times.

“But as much as I’d love to say it will be this year, he’s coming up against some tough opposition and there’s a lot of responsibility now that Carlos has moved on.”

That doesn’t mean that Sastre will have it any easier.

The 34-year-old Spaniard benefited hugely from CSC’s collective efforts last year before the team became Saxo Bank.

And O’Grady says Sastre is unlikely to have the same kind of commitment at Cervelo, who have ambitions elsewhere, notably Thor Hushovd’s pursuit of the race’s green jersey for the points competition.

“At Cervelo it’s going to be a lot different. They’ve got Thor down for the green, maybe (Heinrich) Haussler too. There’s going to be a split in the camp, it’s an extremely different team strategy,” added O’Grady.

“Last year we were 100 percent behind him, and it worked out. But Carlos is going to have his hands full.”

As for Evans, O’Grady believes his Aussie compatriot, who has finished runner-up the past two editions, also faces a mammoth task because of Astana’s return to the race.

“He (Evans) had a massive opportunity to win the Tour last year but the team just wasn’t strong enough,” said O’Grady.

“And this year with Astana coming back it’s going to probably be twice as hard for him to win the Tour.

“I’m not going to say Cadel can’t win the Tour, but this year it’s going to be extremely difficult.”

As for his own perspectives, O’Grady will find out in the coming days what roles – all of which are crucial in any Tour-winning team – he will be expected to play.

But given his injury misfortune in the past, he knows he is lucky to be riding the world’s biggest bike race – even if he hates the training that goes with it.

“I sometimes question why I put myself through this pain and suffering again,” said O’Grady, who, in 2007, also suffered a career-threatening crash during the Tour de France.

“It would have been so easy to throw in the towel so many times. I could have said, ‘everything’s been broken, enough’s enough’, but I just don’t feel ready to do that.

“I still get excited about coming back to racing.

“Until I lose that feeling that I’m not just taking up space, and I can be of service to the team then all the better.”