For those of you who weren't with us during the Giro, the Podium Cafe community tends to hit the ground running during the Grand Tours, specifically we will be blogging live every morning for the next 23 days, save for rest days and rider strikes. Tomorrow won't be a great example, since the prologue generates about as little to discuss as possible during the Tour, but each morning I will post an open thread with some basic information on the day's stage, then let the commenters take it away. I've done live posting in the past, but found that my voice is a lot more tiresome and less insightful than the chorus of voices you get from a wide-open live comment thread. Tomorrow will sorta kick it off (though I'll be at a Tour breakfast party some of the time)... and we'll be full-on by Sunday. Everyone's input welcomed!!
Meanwhile, getting back to racing if that's possible, hit read more to see a re-posting of our preview of the prologue.
A little look around: there's not much history to go by. The list of prologue winners in the new millenium includes Armstrong, McGee, Cancellara, and Moreau... and only Christophe Moreau will be lining up in Strasbourg (McGee is injured). Zabriskie won last year's opening time trial, which wasn't really a prologue, but bookmakers are installing him as an early favorite because he can do a short ITT, and his performance this year is better than ever. David Millar is also capable, though it's his first race in two years, and presumably first clean one in longer than that. Of the ITT kings (Jan, Ivan, Floyd, etc.), nobody comes to mind as the type to try for the win on Day 1. An outlier to watch: Bobby Julich.