Well it was an interesting result in the end, but not so surprising. NZ's Greg Henderson won the final sprint for High Road, and the team picked up the overall as well - just. What conclusions can we draw? Is this a serious indication of tour form for High Road? Will Slipstream's Trent Lowe come of age this year with a major win? Where's Mick Rogers?
Well it's only April. Let's look at the top 30 or so anyway.
Siutsou was a revelation and deserved winner, and Aussie Lowe came oh-so-close to end up 2nd on GC. Leiphemer could only hang with these guys for 3rd. (But it's April, and Astana won't be at Le Tour anyway.) There was a bunch of guys close, too, but they also won't figure in July. However it was nice to see Oscar Sevilla racing at a high level again (6th). Rory Sutherland was a good 9th and could have been higher with a bit of luck. Julich's 10th also under-rated his potential. Willo, Chadwick and McGee were all in the mix, too.
1 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Team High Road 22.44.44
2 Trent Lowe (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle p/b H30 0.04
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.14
4 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 1.02
5 Iñigo Cuesta Lopez De Castro (Spa) Team CSC 1.11
6 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing 1.25
7 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle p/b H30 1.32
8 Moises Aldape Chavez (Mex) Team Type 1 1.37
9 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis 2.08
10 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 2.31
11 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Astana 2.39
12 Scott Nydam (USA) BMC Racing Team 2.49
13 George Hincapie (USA) Team High Road 3.19
14 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 3.26
15 Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr) Team Type 1 3.29
16 Darren Lill (RSA) BMC Racing Team
17 Christopher Jones (USA) Team Type 1 3.37
18 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 3.44
19 Francois Parisien (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 3.48
20 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Team Type 1 4.13
21 Trent Wilson (Aus) Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team 4.15
22 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC 4.26
23 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team 4.28
24 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team
25 Michael Lange (USA) Jelly Belly Cycling Team 4.34
26 Jai Crawford (Aus) GE Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 5.02
27 Matt Cooke (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis 5.06
28 Chris Horner (USA) Astana 5.33
29 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling 5.46
30 Matthias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6.02
