So far, a good tour for the two US teams (Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle), Kim Kirchen (Columbia) is currently 5th overall and is in the Green Jersey. Kirchen and Gerald Ciolek finished 2-3 on yesterday's stage, and Kirchen finished 4th on Saturday after narrowly missing the win. Will Frischkorn (Garmin) finished 2nd today after the long break survived (pissing off the sprinters), Frischkorn was named Most Aggressive Rider today and sits 3rd overall. Dave Millar is 8th overall and Garmin-Chipotle is currently leading the team compeition.
Alejandro Valverde looks strong, Evans has stayed out of trouble as has Frank Schleck. Bad luck rider so far has to be Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) who was last year's polka dot jersey winner and was considered by some to have an outside chance this year - he fell on Saturday and broke a bone in his hand. He's still racing, but his Tour is effectively over - he's 13 minutes down on the leaders and nowhere in the mountains competition.
So far it seems like a very wide-open race and is fun to watch. That the sprinters let a break get away today was a colossal screw-up - today was the last day for any of them to wear the yellow jersey as tomorrow is the first ITT - none of them will be anywhere near the jersey come tomorrow night and their focus will turn 100% to green. It'll be interesting to see how aggressively Columbia defends the green with Kirchen in it - he's not a typical field sprinter, but is a guy who can very easily get over the mountains - look to see what happens on Wednesday between he and Thor for an indication of Columbia's intentions.
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