American David Zabriskie held onto the yellow jersey for a third straight day in the Tour de France on Monday, maintaining his 2-second lead over Lance Armstrong.
The overall leaders stayed intact, but Tuesday's 41-mile stage from Tours to Blois could shake up the overall order. Tomorrow is the team time trial, and Armstrong's Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is looking to overthrow Zabriskie and Team CSC.
Last year, Armstrong's US Postal team won the team time trial, putting several members in the top 10. A strong win by Discovery could catapult Armstrong and George Hincapie (now in fifth) into the top positions. Team CSC, however, goes off last and its members will know how hard they need to ride. A win by CSC could solidify Zabriskie in the yellow jersey for a few more days and help Armstrong challenger Ivan Basso close the gap.
Overall, there are still six Americans in the top 15. They are Zabriskie (1), Armstrong (2), Hincapie (5), Floyd Landis (6, Phonak), Bobby Julich (11, CSC), and Levi Leipheimer (15, Gerolsteiner).
Armstrong's expected challengers are Alexandre Vinokourov (3, T-Mobile), Jan Ullrich (12, T-Mobile), Basso (22, CSC). Check CyclingNews for the stage and overall results.
While Zabriskie and Armstrong stayed out of harm's way back in the peloton for the mass sprint in Tours, QuickStep's Tom Boonen won the 131-mile race from La Châtaigneraie. Sprinter Robbie McEwen was disqualified from third place after putting his head and shoulder into fellow Australian Stuart O'Grady.
Rabobank's Eric Dekker gave his sponsors a good ride as he took off only about 16 miles into the stage. Dekker was finally caught just a mile from the finish, but his effort was enough to win him the polka-dot jersey for best climber as he was the first to top a few hills today.
Recent Comments