This year’s Tour de France starts out with 6,4 km prologue in Liege, Belgium. Apparently the city of Liege has paid ASO over 4 million Euros to host the start of the Tour, so let’s hope we are in for a great show from the very start.
Favorites:
Looking at the course it’s difficult not to pick Fabian Cancellara as the big favorite. The technical route suits the Suisse time trial machine perfectly and he should be able to take good advantage of his outstanding bike handling skills. It’s a course that favors the ITT-specialists able to accelerate many times and therefore not exactly Tony Martin’s cup of tea.In Tour de Suisse Peter Sagan showed he is capable of beating Fabian Cancellara on a technical course but this time there is no uphill section where Sagan can gain a little time on Cancellara. Bradley Wiggins is another good pick for the Top3 and I would be surprised if these riders won’t fight it out for the first yellow jersey of the Tour. If you are looking for an outsider go with Sylvain Chavanel. He is going strong right now and he aims big on this prologue.
My pick: Fabian Cancellara to win the prologue.
Weather:
As of Friday evening it should stay dry around 14:00 CET when Tom Veelers rolls down the start ramp in Liege so let’s hope it won’t change. Wind direction could change a little from SSW to SW giving the late starters a bit more tail wind on the ‘long’ stretch alongside the canal, but it shouldn’t really matter much.
You can find the starting order for the prologue right here.
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