Note that for the TTT, teams start in reverse order of the team, not individual, GC classification. At the moment that means that USPS goes last; Hamilton's Phonak team goes 2nd from last, T-Mobile starts 9th from last, and Euskaltel goes an hour before USPS.
The stage between now and the TTT that has the biggest potential to re-shuffle the start order is Tuesday's little jaunt over the pave. Many of these guys aren't used to riding it (Hamilton tried a section of pave last week and came back with blisters on his hands, allegedly) and if someone falls it could be Passage du Gois all over again.
of these guys aren't used to riding it (Hamilton tried a section of pave last week and came back with blisters on his hands, allegedly) and if
cr.p
You don't get blister from 1 section of pave (unless you went back and forth 400 times with no gloves).
From yesterday's L'Equipe:
"Hamilton souffre d'ampoules
"Tyler Hamilton a reconnu, mardi, les quatre-vingt-dix derniers kilometres de la troisieme etape, Waterloo-Wasquehal, afin de tater 'pour de vrai' les portions pavees. L'Americain en a ete quitte pour deux enormes ampoules, une dans chaque main, a cause des vibrations. 'Cela ne cessait pas de sauter et j'avais du mal a maitriser mon guidon. Ce sera une etape dangereuse, ou on n'aura pas grand-chose a gagner et beaucoup a perdre.'"
