Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
...
I always like to guess who the highest placing USA rider will be and how far out of the top ten they will place....
That is an interesting equation. Right now all the USA riders are there to sacrifice for their GC guy. It would not be unusual for them to even hold back in an ITT to help another day.
But...teams know having a USA guy do well brings up eye-balls in the USA at least (which buys things) and allowing them to fly free a few stages may help their sponsors more than helping the GC guys.
I expect Brandon will not be holding back in the ITT and I expect Sepp will be allowed to fly up a mountain stage. Rating the USA riders against each other works better when their job isn't about getting their GC guy to place better.