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Time for the Tour de France!!!!

posted by id* at 09:46 PM on July 09, 2008

With only days to go before the 2008 Tour de France all the teams have arrived in Brest to get ready for the Team Presentations tomorrow and the start of the Tour on Saturday. For the first time in many years the Tour will not start with a prologue but with a road stage, but not just any road stage... Stage one is a hilly, spring classic like stage with four category 4 climbs and a 1.8km uphill finish. Look for the 2008 Tour de France to start with a bang as both the GC contenders like Alejandro Valverde, Damiano Cunego, Cadel Evans and the Schleck brothers fight with the one day specialists like Stijn Devolder, Gert Steegmans, Oscar Freire, George Hincapie and Thor Hushovd to grab the first yellow jersey.

Specialized sponsored riders will be all over the Tour de France this year with the main teams Quickstep and Gerolsteiner ready to race with a combination of stage winners and GC potentials. Helmets and optics sponsored teams Silence-Lotto with Evans and Lampre with Cunego will be chasing the overall GC and Milram will be looking for stage wins with six time Green Jersey winner Erik Zabel. Other Specialized athletes at the Tour include Sylvain Chavanel, David Millar and Christian Vande Velde in Specialized Shoes. We literally cover almost half the peloton in some sort of equipment and the drive to increase performance will be visible in everything we do at the Tour in 2008.

As the first week heats up look for twice weekly updates on Rides Club with photos from the race, updates from our team "on the ground" in France and insights on how our athletes are preparing for the big days to come.

At Riders Club we always love making predictions so as a way to kick off the Tour de France here are our week one predictions!

Stage 1:
Wow - what a hard start to the Tour de France. Look for this to be like a Spring Classic with a front group of GC contenders and one day specialists together at the finish. This is the perfect stage for a climber who can sprint - someone like Cunego, Gert Steegmans, Oscar Freire or George Hincapie.
Our pick at RC - Valverde.

Stage 2:
A bit of a calmer day but with some hard climbs in the middle. Look for some of the top sprinters to get dropped but most of them will be there in the end. It'll be again a battle for the sprinters who can get over the medium climbs like Thor Hushovd, Gerald Ciolek, Alessandro Ballan.
Our pick at RC – Thor Hushovd yellow jersey wearer from 2006

Stage 3:
Finally a flat stage. Seriously flat. This will be a stage for the sprinters at 208km its long enough for a break to get out but not so hard that the main sprinter teams won't pull things back together. Look for Columbia, Garmin-Chipotle and Rabbobank to be working to keep things close and sprinters like Steegmans, Freire, Mark Cavendish and Julian Dean to be near the front.
Our pick at RC - little Robbie McEwen. Cavendish might be faster in the sprint but this is the Tour and Robbie knows it well...

Stage 4: Time to TT
It's time for the Race of Truth as the French like to call it. Man and Machine against the wind. Today's ITT is short only 29.5km but long enough that the GC contenders will want to make a statement. Look for Cadel Evans, Valverde and the Schlecks to have good rides. But today's stage should belong to the TT specialists - David Millar has said he is targeting this stage to win.
Our pick at RC - Double World Champion Fabian Cancellara.

Stage 5:
Another flat stage for the sprinters. Look for smart sprinters like Erik Zabel and Robert Hunter to have soft pedaled the day before to get ready for this stage. With the GC a bit more settled there could be a big break today as well. Look for Jens Voigt and Silvain Cavanel in the break and the sprinters teams to pull things back in time for a furious sprint to the line.
Our pick at RC - Mark Cavendish

Stage 6: Mountain top finish
Today is the first real climbing stage with two Category Two climbs in the last 50km. This will be the time for GC contenders to show their climbing legs. There might not be much separation at the finish but anyone who gets dropped here will have a hard time climbing back to the top. Look for guys like Carlos Sastre, Trent Lowe, Cadel Evans and Stijn Devolder to show their climbing legs. This will be a furious finish and should favor climbers with fast finishes like Cunego, Valverde and Andy Schleck.
Our pick at RC - Riccardo Ricco

Stage 7:
No rest for the peloton today. It's another moderate climbing stage with two Cat 2s, two Cat 3s and a Cat 4 climb. Time for a breakaway! The GC contenders will be happy to watch each other and it'll be a good day for Jens Voigt, Philippe Gilbert and maybe Samuel Sanchez to try to get in a break. This will be the most unpredictable stage of the first week and as such will be really hard to call.
Our pick at RC - Thomas Voeckler. The punch roulleur will be feeling some pressure to win and should be far enough down to take a chance on a stage like this.

This wraps up our Week One predictions. Check back to see how we did at RC as the week progresses and add your own predictions here. Make sure you watch the Tour of Vs. and we agree with them - it's time to Take Back the Tour!