Well the Pyrenees are done and its time for some flat stages over to the Alps. Inevitably there will be some riders that try to breakaway, but I would expect a lot of bunch sprints over the next few stages. Here are my jersey predictions:
Green Jersey (sprint points)
This is really a two horse race. There is no doubt that Team Columbia-HTC's Mark Cavendish, the winner of 3 stages already this year, is the fastest man on two wheels right now. If he's in a sprint, he's going to win it. He needs to secure some stage wins on these flat stages in order to gather up enough points to take into the mountains, where he will barely finish within the time limit. If he can't do that then my pick to win it is Cervelo Test Team's Thor "God of Thunder" Hushovd. He's got the legs to get over some of the climbs that Cavendish can't, and that just might secure the Green Jersey for him. Other contenders: Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream)
Polka Dot Jersey (king of the mountains)
This is really up for grabs. The days of dominant climbers like Richard Virenque and Michael Rasmussen are gone. Now the leaders of this classification are mostly nobodies from the weaker teams that don't really have an overall contender. I like some of the Spanish riders from Euskaltel-Euskadi to win this one. Egoi Martinez and Mikel Astarloza are both currently in the top 10 of the King of the Mountains classification. Martinez is leading it while Astarloza is not too far behind. I think if he wants it Astarloza has a great chance at winning this, but like I said it's really up in the air. Especially with so many points to be won in the Alps. Othe contenders: Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas)
White Jersey (best young rider)
There are quite a few young guys leading their respective teams right now. Tony Martin of Team Columbia-HTC is the current leader of the classification at 6th overall. I feel, however, that he is inexperienced and will have some trouble in the Alps, especially with Team Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck right on his wheel. Young bull can climb. Schleck won the white jersey last year after finishing 12th overall. Now he is the undisputed leader of Team Saxo Bank and should be a contender in the overall classification. Other contenders: Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas)
Yellow Jersey (overall winner)
This is one of the more interesting tours in years as far as the General Classification is concerned, mainly because of the power struggle within Team Astana. Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong are probably the two best riders in the tour. With a team like Astana behind them I would be very suprised if someone other than one of these two won. Contador and Armstrong, along with Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, Haimar Zubeldia, and Yaroslav Popovych, make up possibly the most formidable cycling team of all type. Between the six of them they have 8 Tour de France wins and 18 top 10 finishes. Contador showed his form in stage 7 when he pulled away from his teammates on the largest climb of the Pyrenees. It was a selfish move that did not win him any support from his teammates, including Armstrong. Everyone is saying that they are all getting along, but it is obvious that there is some friction within the team. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the Alps.
Andy Schleck is sitting pretty at about 1'40" behind Contador and Armstrong. Behind him is the perenially strong Team Saxo Bank, who delivered a Tour de France win to Carlos Sastre last year. The workhorses of the team are Andy's brother Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Kurt Asle Arveson, Nicki Sorenson and powerhouse Jens Voigt. If Astana is too busy battling eachother then Andy Schleck might be able to make up some time and possibly slip by them.
Last year's winner, Carlos Sastre, and runner-up, Cadel Evans, still both have outside chances of winning the tour. They are two of the stronger riders in the tour, but are held back by their relatively weak teams, Cervelo Test Team and Silence-Lotto respectively. Other contenders: Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream), Denny Menchov (Rabobank)
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