Time for the Tour de France to kick off. And it does so with a team time trial.
Clear favourite for todays stage is ING - Pro Cycling Team with a massive amount of top time trialists. So it might be the French star Sicard taking the first yellow in 2014.
Pokerstars.com is the first team on the road and this might be due to the weak GC riders. Actually the whole team is built around Belgium sprinter Tom Boonen. But even though he has 1-2 riders to support him in the sprints, he surely would have liked to get a better leadout to fight for several stage wins.
Other rider to mention is Jelle Wallays, who is the team`s best hope for stage results on hillier terrain.
Today it`s just about finishing as the team is one of the weakest TTT squads.
Becherovka - Kiwibank also comes without the best GC rider. Their hopes are on Leopold König and Leigh Howard.
Today though it mainly depends on Sergent and Kreuziger to deliver a solid result and while they beat Pokerstars by 66s, it`s probably not within the best in the end.
Good Energy is having a really nice season where in especially Ponzi is responsible for. Here though he is not participating and so it`s about top sprinter Guarnieri to shine and deliver a stage win. With Blythe and Rowe the leadout at least should be excellent. GC wise Scarponi might fight for a late top20 or a stage win in the mountains. They mainly go on stage hunting on any terrain I guess with Diggle, Rabottini and Palini, Malori also in their squad.
The team is coming in in between both previous teams.
Wikipedia sends the first serious GC contender into the race. Taylor Phinney is an excellent stage racer and even though the course is not ideal for a top time trialist, he should be within the best in the end. Having huge support by Pinot and Talansky should help him in the mountains, when stronger climbers make him suffer. The team is completely build around him.
With some strong time trialists in their squad they were expected to set a new best time, which might last a long time. And so it is. 30s faster than Becherovka.
Pendleton's come with Austrian leader Kohl supported by strong stage racers Siutsou and Kennaugh. They might lack a bit to challenge the very best but should still be considered as decent GC contenders going for stage wins in the mountains here and there.
They come in 2nd a little bit ahead of the Czechs.
Bouygues Telecom is led by Estonian Taaramae.
He is expected to perform very well in the mountains as he combines everything a top stage racer needs. He lacks the last climbing strength though against the very best. With support of Solis, Camier and Teklehaimanot though he should be fine.
The start could be a bit better though as they are 14s behind Becherovka, which might be in the later end today.
Quickstep is one of two wildcard teams here. Their strength is their team`s depth. Marquez as decent GC rider might fight for a top10, might be a top20 only though. But in hte hills they have one of the best at the start here with Froome as also in the sprints with Vantomme. And then there is Baugnies, who might show us some nice attacks. Good all around team, whose goal must be a stage win.
Not having very good time trialists though they finish in the end spots today being just ahead of Pokerstars.
Prio - Porto around 2010 Tour de France winner Markus Fothen. The German is still an excellent GT rider and might go for a top10 here. His support could be a bit better with Silva, Oliveira and Reis though. Also the rest of the team looks more like wanting to be in the breakaways. Their time today is okay. 5s faster than Becherovka in provisional 3rd.
Swisscom - UBS sends a much improved Amador into the GC fight. The Costa Rican can win this race despite being only the 5th best climber. But his GT skills are excellent and he can surely challenge the best as shown over the season. Therefore though he needs great support by Frank and Riblon, which is a big question as other teams have stronger support. Everything less than Top5 though would be very disappointing.
They move in 2nd behind Wikipedia at the moment 21s behind.
Talking about possible GC winners we have to name Spilak for Festina-Canal+. The Slovenian is one of the very best four climbers and combined with excellent backup stats he sure is a big candidate for the highest step on the podium. The support is about two riders only but therefore Ratiy and Lecuisinier should do their job. But is it enough to control a race in case he takes the GC lead?
The focus on a sprinter as well with Tzortzakis and Demare might give them more chances for a stage win though.
3rd at the moment in between UBS and Pendletons.
Once a huge TTT team, Project 1t4i is not as strong there any longer. Posthuma, De Kort and Walsleben are the only time trialists in the squad to deliver Henao Montoya a decent placement. That said, the TT support is still better than the mountain support for their leader, who might struggle to reach the better places this way. Top10 would be solid for him under this circumstances.
With Vanendert, Sinkeldam and Kreder they might have good chances for stage wins though.
1 spot behind Becherovka today which might be 2nd half.
ING - Pro Cycling Team with 3 National TT champions. An average of 78 ITT stat and 3 of the best in the division. Anything less than a win today would be awful for them. Also Sicard needs some time today as he might lack the top support in the mountains, where only Rolland is expected to stay with him for a bit longer.
And while not being the best time at the first sector, they go stronger at the next part and also in the last to take the lead by 44s ahead of Wikipedia, which is quite a lot seeing that the US team also had a decent TT squad.
First over the line was German Fiedler btw. in case it`s about the yellow jersey in the end.
VolksWagen-Mapei does not have the big GC leader but therefore some options and more important unmaxed yet, which might be huge in the seasons to come.
First option is Monsalve ahead of Brenes and Anacona. So depth is definitely there and hopes for a top15 are realistic. In the sprints it`s about other talents with only one maxed riders in their squad. Zabel and Bouhanni both could do something even though they still need something special against the best.
The TTT is not their strength so and they take one of the last spots.
Simply Red Bull comes with a lot of stage hunting options and no real leader. Jerome Coppel though might be named who might want to take over the GC lead after the first week. Samoilev, Morabito, Kessiakoff and Morizot are all expected to try something in the harder stages.
And it must be mentioned that the French leader is performing well today moving the team to the 1st after the start and 2nd after the next sector. They might have lost a bit in the end but still finish within the same time as Wikipedia in 3rd.
Santander almost needs the Tour win here. With the beast duo Madrazo and Tenorio this should be possible and the mountain support with Valls, Lopez, Serrano, Herrada and Rienda is just awesome and ahead of all others. In the time trial though some are having problems to follow already at the 2nd point but in the end they still finish quite strong in provisional 4th 55s behind ING.
Rothaus - Aegon has excellent time trialist at the top with Keizer, Schädlich and Boom. But they might lack the 5th or 6th rider to get a very good stage result. In the GC the hopes are on Keizer to reach the top15 with stage hunting by Roux in the hills. Sprinter Nizzolo will have hard times against the better.
Coming in behind Prio Porto in provisional 8th is a bit behind their expectations though.
Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank comes to the Tour with a strong team around Kritskiy hoping for a top5-10. Having support by Kolesnikov, Kunshin and Belkov this should be possible.
With some decent TT riders they also set a decent time today 62s off as provisional 5th.
Team Vueling Airlines wants to quite as soon as Dekker takes the Tour de France title. Thanks god that there are far better climbers making him maximum a top5 rider here. The support has some depths with Lebas, Hivert, Quintana or Geniez but lacks the strength to stay with him until the very end. So a top5 is the most he can expect realistically.
Vesuvio - Accumalux comes with Andy Schleck. The team is used to win the Tour de France already and knows how to built the needed team. So with top support by Suaza, Medvedev and young talents Kirsch and Shikai the team is bringing the perfect support for Andy. Nothing else but the win is supposed to be reached.
The start is really good with Kittel pulling the whole team to provisional 4th 54s off.
Aker-MOT comes as stage hunting team around sprinter Van Heerden and puncheur Levarlet. Also Ziesler or Aasvold might show something. In the end one of the weaker teams here which is also shown today being 1'47 behind ING.
Bacardi Limited is the 2nd wildcard team and comes with a huge squad!
Both their GC riders Uran and Intxausti have shown win performances this season and want to attack the top5 or at least top10. Pardilla and Navarro will take care to bring them in position while Ulissi and Bilbao can go stage hunting in the hills.
Decent ride today somewhere in the middle 1'13 back.
Team Bpost - Vlaanderen comes with a team made for todays stage. 8 time trialists and no climber or sprinter. So every rider finishing the race grabbing some points would be a nice reward. Star of the team is Cornu, who btw. is by far their best climber, which says it all.
And then also bad luck for the team as todays stage might have proven to difficult with the climbing in the end. They lost a bit in the end and only finish 4th, which is obviously not a bad result, but with that team you could have expected them to podium. You could argue that it`s only 2s to the 2nd though.
Nah. Last years runner up Cunego is not here for Lotto – Australia Post.
The team is built around top sprinter Bennati to grab a few stage wins. With the help of Croket and Von Hoff it`s not the best possible leadout though but should work fine.
In the harder stages hopes are on Ivars, Cherel and Libert to show something. Only Pokerstars was weaker today, so they are already 2'15 behind.
Last team on the road is Team B&O with another top favourite. Pluchkin comes here to win the Tour de France. His support of possible top15 rider Keinath and Hacecky is okay but not as strong as Vesuvio or Santander. Also Grivko should be a solid support while the team is having some solid time trialists for todays stage which deliver them a nice time 44s behind ING, who win the opening then.
So we have Pluchkin and Phinney within the same time behind Sicard now as first contenders.
