le tour

[totient]

Stuart O'Grady has just put in a strong effort in the prologue. As a sprinter, this is not really in his interest personally, so that means that CSC (his team) are chasing after the team classification. With their leader out, it wasn't clear what their strategy would be -- and it still isn't. They may be going for the team placement for itself since they've won it recently, or they may be doing it to get a better start time in the team time trial, in hopes that one of their riders can end up in yellow after that.

Comments

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

No official standings but it looks to me like CSC is in second place in the team classification, one second behind Discovery. Maybe they can pick up some time bonuses; I don't think Discovery will be chasing those. O'Grady's time stood up better in the prologue than I expected, so he does get some points towards the maillot vert.

On Sunday, the yellow jersey will be worn by the man who's favored to win the green, and because you can only wear one at a time, the green will be worn by one of the most likely to win the yellow. It won't take long before Hincapie relinquishes the green. We'll see how long Thor Hushovd can stay in yellow, though. Defending it will probably hurt his chances for the green, but there's a lot of prestige (not to mention money) to be gained by doing so anyway.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Standings are up, and it is indeed one second.

Floyd Landis missed his start by 8 seconds; had it not been for that he'd have finished second or third in the prologue, and his team would have been in third place, just ahead of T-Mobile.

Valverde rode flat out in a bid to establish dominance. Most of the other contenders rode a little more conservatively so as not to risk a crash. A few had rides that went beyond "conservative" into "disappointing", notably Damiano Cunego, who was a favorite for the white jersey of best young rider.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Hey... there isn't any team time trial this year! What's up with that?