Prologue: 5.18 miles of pan flat to slightly downhill terrain from the Garden of the Gods to downtown Colorado Springs. This will be an all out drag race for the prologue specialists, but look for the true GC contenders to factor into the final results as well. Best place to watch? At the finish in downtown Colorado Springs.

Stage 1: This stage is the first of five long distance, high altitude stages through the center of Colorado. While Monarch pass is a gigantic climb, we feel like the desolate, wind strewn terrain in between Monarch and the finish in Crested Butte may play a role if the wind is up. GC riders won’t attack on the final climb up to Mt. Crested Butte, but they will have to be attentive to avoid losing time in the final 3km. Best place to watch? At the Eldo (a sunny place for shady people) on Elk Avenue, near the intermediate sprint in downtown Crested Butte.

Stage 2: This is the undisputed queen stage at this years USAPCC. With two enormous mountain passes over 12,000 feet, this stage will produce 5-10 clear GC front runners when the dust settles in Aspen. What’s interesting about this stage is the treacherous 21 mile descent from the top of Independence Pass into Aspen. We could see some surprises at the finish by non-pure climbers which may alter the GC for the remainder of the week. It’s also important to note that it has snowed at 12,000 in late August in the past, so you never know what we might see during this stage! Best place to watch? At the top of Independence Pass with 20,000 other cycling fans!

The summit of Cottonwood pass, as seen on July 22nd, 2011:

Stage 3: The individual time trial up Vail pass is a classic Colorado ride and test of individual time trial skills. While this is not a pure hill climb (some riders may opt for TT bikes with disc wheels), this stage will favor the climbers or anyone who finished in the front group on stage 2. The winner of this stage could retain the race lead through the rest of the week. Best place to watch? Anywhere along the route of the time trial.

Stage 4: With the General Classification established after stages 2 and 3, stage 4 looks like a day for a field sprint. That said, it’s hard to anticipate which teams who aren’t going for the GC will work to keep the breakaway in check. Although this stage never goes lower than 6700 feet in elevation, this is the easiest stage of the race. Best place to watch? Downtown Steamboat Springs.

Stage 5: A near repeat of stage 4 with the exception of Rabbit Ears pass near Steamboat Springs coming around 15 miles into the stage. Rabbit Ears will be a good spring board for a breakaway of strong riders who are motivated for the stage win in Breckenridge. Wind and weather could play a huge factor on both stage 4 and 5, so the GC contenders will have to be ready to control the race and ride at the front if there is inclement weather. Best place to watch? Clint’s Bakery, main street, downtown Breckenridge.

Stage 6: The race returns to a more “reasonable” elevation of 5200 feet in downtown Denver, and with only one climb coming at the beginning of this stage, we should see circuits in downtown Denver leading up to a super high speed drag race at the finish. This is a day for the pure sprinters, and the overall winner of the race. In what should be a fantastic day for spectators, it will be very fun to see pro cycling in the streets of Denver! Best place to watch? From the VIP tent at the finish!

View the Photo of the Day series here:

View the Photo of the Day series here:

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This image pretty much sums up the first week as far as we’re concerned:

Beginning with stage 8, the Tour moves into difficult terrain which should favor the overall GC contenders. Stage 8 finishes in Super-Bresse after a tiered 900 foot climb starting at around 6.5k to go. The finish climb could favor punchy climbers with explosive power, but we’ll be looking to David Millar, Vande Velde, Danielson, and Hesjedal to show their climbing form prior to the high mountains.

Stage 9 looks to be a very tough day of racing prior to the first rest day on Monday, July 11th. With 8 categorized climbs, including the third category finishing climb, stage 9 looks like a day for a big breakaway of stage win hopefuls polka dot jersey contenders.

On paper, Stages 10 and 11 look very similar to Stage 9, but both stages have fewer categorized climbs that could favor the sprinters as their chances for stage wins quickly dwindle.

Stages 12 and 13 finally take the Tour into the high mountains of the Pyrennes for what will be the first two major GC battles of the Tour. Stage 12 finishes on the HC climb to Luz Ardiden, but also crosses the mighty Tourmalet which was featured twice in the 2010 Tour de France. We’re hoping Ryder Hesjedal has good memories of the Tourmalet and will hold his position as a GC contender after stage 12.

Stage 13 features the massive hors category climb Col d’Aubisque, but is otherwise not a mountainous stage. After stage 12′s super tough terrain, stage 13 should be another day for a breakaway, likely including a rider looking to gain points in the competition for the polka dot climbers jersey.

After a very tough first week of racing, the second week of the Tour could produce some surprises and shake up the overall classification. If we had to pick a “must watch” stage, it would be stage 12 over the Tourmalet and finishing on Luz Ardiden. Enjoy the race and stay tuned here for daily race reports from Team Garmin-Cervelo!

More photos from the Tour de France:

For 2011, the Tour celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the first time the race was held in the Alps. The result is a route that doesn’t visit the high mountains for the first 10 stages. That’s not to say the first week will be easy!

Beginning in the Vendee region, stage 1 starts the first week with what might be a common theme: wind off the ocean, unpredictable weather, and tricky stage finishes. Stage 1 finishes up a 1-2k false flat that could leave the pure sprinters fighting for seconds. Look for Tyler Farrar or world champion Thor Hushovd to be battling for the win this Saturday.

In such a huge event, you hate to blow off other aspects of the race, but stage 2 is definitely for “all the marbles” in the first week of this year’s Tour. JV has made it very clear that we’re gunning for the victory in the team time trial. Riders like David Millar, David Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Tom Danielson and Ramunas Navarduaskas all bring a huge amount of TTT experience with them to stage 2. With a team built around riders who are great time trialists, this will be a fun stage to watch!

Stages 3, 4, and 5 all share similar characteristics: none are truly flat, and all could present riders with strong cross winds off the ocean. Stage 5 includes a finish atop the “Mur de Bretagne” in the cycling, moule-frites, and crepes crazed Brittany region of France. There’s no way to call stages 3, 4, and 5 “sprinters” stages, but Tyler, Thor and possiby David Millar or Ryder Hesjedal might all have strong showings on these stages.

Stages 6 and 7 appear to be flatter, further away from ocean crosswinds, and will probably lead to large bunch sprints. Ace leadout man Julian Dean will definitely be helping Tyler Farrar look for a stage win on stages 6 and 7!

Team Garmin-Cervelo is poised with a great line up for this year’s Tour de France. The first week should be a great week for the team, we can’t wait to see it unfold!

View photos from previous editions of the Tour de France:

Starting with the U23 time trial on Wednesday through to the elite men’s road race on Sunday, the Argyle Armada will be present on the teams of five different countries.

“I am looking forward to Mendrisio very much,” said Ryder Hesjedal, who is leading his Canadian team and coming off a recent stage win in the Vuelta a Espana.

“I had a perfect Vuelta and made it to my final preparation without injury or sickness. I feel I have a great condition at this point and hope to have a good day on sunday! I am also very motivated for the opportunity to be riding with Svein as a Canadian/Garmin-Slipstream teammate…pretty cool!”

The recently crowned British time trial champion Bradley Wiggins is widely expected to contend for the time trial title.

Another rider who showed good form at the Vuelta, American Tom Danielson, is hoping to fair better World Championships after having to withdraw due to illness.

“I’m very motivated to do a good ride for the US team at worlds. I’m not sure what to expect in the TT given the hand I was dealt the last week in the Vuelta — getting the flu and bronchitis. But no matter how I am Thursday I will give the time trial my best. Then on Sunday I hope to ride well and continue on the progress I made in Burgos and the Vuelta.”

Christian Meier (Can) will not be racing in worlds, having to attend to personal matters at home.

Elite

Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
Svein Tuft (Can)
David Millar (GBr)
Brad Wiggins (GBr)
Dan Martin (Irl)
Timmy Duggan (USA)
Steven Cozza (USA)
Tom Danielson (USA)
Tom Peterson (USA)
Tyler Farrar (USA)

U23

Jack Bobridge (Aus)
Peter Stetina (USA)
Kirk Carlsen (USA)
Alex Howes (USA)

The first mountain stage in this years Vuelta, and it was a super-hard stage with a mountain-top finish. It started flat out from the beginning — a lot of groups went and we had our guys in all of them. But after 40km a group of six riders took off with some seriously good climbers in it. They gained a lot of time quickly and nobody really showed interest in doing the chase. They had 15 minutes when Valverde’s team finally took up the pace.

It went on all day with a very bumpy ride. It came down to two riders from the front group in the last 20km up to the finish. There was a hard selection where several favorites lost there chances in this year’s Vuelta.

We had Dan and Tommy D in front all the way up the climb, with Dan dropping out of a small front group with 3km to go. Tommy did a solid ride up there to the very end. There were a few moments when he was off the back but he quickly regained the front group again. Only a few of the best riders were left so he climbed up to fourth on GC after another super-performance today — only 13 second down on GC!

Team Garmin-Slipstream, stage 7
1. Damiano Cunego 6h04.54
11. Tom Danielson +0.50
14. Dan Martin +1.29
58. Ryder Hesjedal +10.42
90. David Millar +16.57
93. Christian Meier +18.39
100. Tyler Farrar
169. Martijn Maaskant +29.20
174. Svein Tuft
186. Julian Dean +29.32

Team Garmin-Slipstream, GC
1. Cadel Evans 31h05.02
4. Tom Danielson +0.13
32. Dan Martin +7.04
62. Ryder Hesjedal +15.40
67. David Millar +16.21
81. Tyler Farrar +19.44
132. Svein Tuft +31.08
148. Christian Meier +36.06
160. Julian Dean +39.25
187. Martijn Maaskant +57.12

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From the Argyle store:

VeloNews: Congrats on the stage victory, what were your emotions on the podium?

Tom Danielson: I was stoked. It was an awesome experience. I’m really happy about it. You prepare yourself to do it, but until you really do it, then the mind makes the connection with the body and then you start to believe that you can do this all the time. But you need that breakthrough and then your body follows your mind. It’s a nice feeling after so much hard work.

VN: This is your first win in Europe since the Vuelta stage in 2006, right?

TD: Right, and it’s also my first big time trial win. I’ve won the time trial at Qinghai Lake in China and I’ve won time trials in America, but this is my first big time trial win in Europe. I’m really happy to be up there, against guys like Valverde and Sánchez, both who are in good shape for the Vuelta. I was focusing on the key riders from the Vuelta and gave it my best shot. The bigger thing than who was there was really what happened in the race, the way that I looked at it, understand it and how to race it. The key to winning a time trial is not really all about pure power; it’s a lot of about where you put the power and how you do it. I’ve been mentally preparing for these experiences and working on it a lot for a long time. To actually do it in competition was great.

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