The Tour of France started yesterday. You may have heard. Folks were saying this was going to be the most wide open race in years, and that was before favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were suspended by their teams for apparent connections to the doctor at the center of Operacción Puerto. Now the race is most certainly a crapshoot, with no clear favorite. A group of friends have started an informal pool for the winner, so here are my picks:

Yellow Jersey:
1. Landis
2. Valverde @ 1:45
3. Leipheimer @ 2:00

Green Jersey:
1. Boonen
2. Hushovd
3. McEwen

Polka Dot Jersey:
1. Rasmussen
2. Mayo
3. Valverde

White Jersey:
Ummm….dunno, do I? Based on my calculations, Popo is a year too
old (must be younger than 25). I looked at the current classification after stage 1, and didn’t recognize a single name.

Team Classification:
1. Disco
2. CSC
3. Phonak

I wish I could take back my points (green jersey) pick–Boonen had a terrible sprint today, and Hushovd was injured when he tried to squeeze next to the barriers. There’s lots of racing to be done though. It’s worth noting that George Hincapie took advantage of a prime and snuck into the yellow yersey (after losing the prologue by a fraction of a second–literally). Hincapie joins an exclusive club of Americans who have worn the malliot jaune–Greg Lemond, David Zabriskie, and some guy named Armstrong. Hincapie is still (rightfully) downplaying his chances in the general classification, as Discovery has several riders who step up during the time trials and, more importantly, the mountain stages.

Posted on 2 July 2006