The 93rd edition of the Tour de France [Images], one of the toughest sporting events in the world, will kick off on Sunday. The cycling event will begin its search for a new champion after the retirement of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong [Images].

Ten Sports will telecast live action from the Tour, except for the first three stages that clash with the live coverage of India's fourth cricket Test against the West Indies [Images] from June 30 to July 4. The remaining 17 stages will be live , with the coverage starting at 6:00 pm IST from July 5 onwards.

The complete coverage of the first three stages will be telecast at 3:30 am and 11:30 am IST the following day.

This year's Tour de France assumes special significance as it will be the first time after seven years that a new rider will have the honour of wearing the yellow jersey. After an emotional farewell last year, the legendary American cyclist Armstrong will hand over the crown to a new rider following his retirement.

The 22-day race begins from Strasbourg, Germany [Images], and will be made up of a prologue and 20 stages, covering a total distance of 3,600 kilometres. The Tour finishes at Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 23.

 The cyclists will have only two days of rest in between -- on Mondays -- July 10 and 17.

The break-up of the 20 stages are nine flat stages, four medium mountain stages, five mountain stages and two individual time-trial stages.

After its absence last year, the prologue (of seven kms) time trial returns to make the shorter time trial specialists happy. The prologue will be held at Strasborg on Saturday, July 1.

Among the favourites to follow in the footsteps of Lance Armstrong, who announced his retirement after claiming his seventh title last year are German Jan Ullrich of Team T-Mobile, Italian Ivan Basso of Team CSC, and Alejandro Valverde of Spain, who has won two titles this year.