What an opening day!

The Tour de France will certainly be interesting this year if for no other reason than trying to figure out who is the team leader of Astana. Of course Fabian Cancellara won the opening individual time trial. Aside from his incredible and brave downhill run to the finish, there was a lot more to tell.

Armstrong fans are going to point to his early ride and top ten finish to say that he is back and at the tour to win. Problem with that is that as an individual you simply cannot win the Tour de France! You need help and that help comes from your teammates. For most teams that isn’t an issue but for Astana, they have four riders with legitimate shots at this years podium. So who does the rest of the team ride for? In the top ten yesterday you have Armstrong, Leipheimer, Kloden and Contador! An amazing feat in an of itself but with only five other riders on the team who becomes the team leader that all five of those guys work for?

I really believe that we will have to wait to see what the first mountain stages brings. If any of those four are weak or weakened in those first stages then Yohan Bruyneel will have to make quick and harsh decisions. Time will tell. Best thing is that it looks to be an exciting month of July.