1. Erik Zabel (Ger) TEL 3.22.42 (avs. 47,804 km) 2. Nicola Minali (Ita) BAT 3. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 4. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) GAN 5. Lauri Aus (Est) CSO 6. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) SAE 7. Andreo Tchmil (Ukr) LOT 8. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) ROS 9. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) COF 10. Adriano Baffi (Ita) USP 11. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) TEL 12. Frangois Simon (Fra) GAN 13. Mario Traversoni (Ita) MER 14. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RAB 15. Henk Vogels (Aus) GAN 16. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) FES 17. Nicola Loda (Ita) MAG 18. Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) BIG 19. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) LOT 20. Rolf Aldag (Ger) TEL 21. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) CSO 22. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GAN 23. Abraham Olano (Spa) BAN 24. Serguei Outschakov (Ukr) PLT 25. Maximilian Sciandri (G-B) FDJ 26. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) MAP 27. Pascal Lino (Fra) BIG 28. Christophe Moreau (Fra) FES 29. Andrea Tafi (Ita) MAP 30. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) BAN 31. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM 32. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) GAN 33. Richard Virenque (Fra) FES 34. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) USP 35. Bjarne Riis (Dan) TEL 36. Laurent Brochard (Fra) FES 37. Bobby Julich (USA) COF 38. Erik Dekker (Ned) RAB 39. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) TVM 40. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) RAB 41. Gerard Rue (Fra) GAN 42. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 43. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONC 44. Marco Fincato (Ita) ROS 45. Jan Ullrich (Ger) TEL 46. Manuel Beltran (Spa) BAN 47. Davide Rebellin (Ita) FDJ 48. Luc Leblanc (Fra) PLT 49. Stephane Heulot (Fra) FDJ 50. Bo Hamburger (Dan) TVM 51. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) FES 52. Frederic Guesdon (Fra) FDJ 53. Marcello Siboni (Ita) MER 54. Laurent Madouas (Fra) LOT 55. George Hincapie (USA) USP 56. Christophe Mengin (Fra) FDJ 57. Marco Zen (Ita) ROS 58. Frankie Andreu (USA) COF 59. Michael Boogerd (Ned) RAB 60. Daniele Sgnaolin (Ita) ROS 61. Giusvan Piovaccari (Ita) MER 62. Chris Boardman (G-B) GAN 63. Marco Pantani (Ita) MER 64. Wilfried Peeters (Bel) MAP 65. Christophe Rinero (Fra) COF 66. Joona Laukka (Fin) FES 67. Peter Meinert (Dan) USP 68. Fernando Escartin (Spa) KEL 69. Jose Angel Vidal (Spa) KEL 70. Francisco Benitez (Spa) KEL 71. Bruno Cenghialta (Ita) BAT 72. Beat Zberg (Swi) MER 73. Tyler Hamilton (USA) USP 74. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) PLT 75. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONC 76. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) PLT 77. Giuseppe Tartaggia (Ita) BAT 78. Rolf Sorensen (Dan) RAB 79. Thierry Bourguignon (Fra) BIG 80. Johan Museeuw (Bel) MAP 81. Peter Farazijn (Bel) LOT 82. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) BIG 83. Jon Odriozola (Spa) BAT 84. Philipp Buschor (Swi) SAE 85. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) USP 86. Gerrit De Vries (Ned) PLT 87. Marc Wauters (Bel) LOT 88. Oskar Camenzind (Swi) MAP 89. Roberto Sierra (Spa) ONC 90. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) CSO 91. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Rus) ROS 92. Andrea Brognara (Ita) BAT 93. Alberto Elli (Ita) CSO 94. David Etxebarria (Spa) ONC 95. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 96. Daniele Nardello (Ita) MAP 97. Erik Breukink (Ned) RAB 98. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) USP 99. Udo Bolts (Ger) TEL 100. Marino Alonso (Spa) BAN 101. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) ONC 102. Angel Casero (Spa) BAN 103. Santiago Blanco (Spa) BAN 104. Marcelino Garcia (Spa) ONC 105. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) FDJ 106. Javier Mauleon (Spa) ONC 107. Patrick Jonker (Aus) RAB 108. Andrea Peron (Ita) FDJ 109. Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) PLT 110. Marty Jemison (USA) USP 111. Pascal Herve (Fra) FES 112. Didier Rous (Fra) FES 113. Jens Heppner (Ger) TEL 114. Andreo Teteriuk (Kzk) LOT 115. Christian Henn (Ger) TEL 116. Giorgio Furlan (Ita) SAE 117. Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) BAN 118. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) MER 119. Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONC 120. Jean-Philippe Dojwa (Fra) MUT 121. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) COF 122. Roberto Conti (Ita) MER 123. Cyril Saugrain (Fra) COF 124. Arnaud Pretot (Fra) GAN 125. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) BAN 126. Neil Stephens (Aus) FES 127. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) SAE 128. Angelo Lecchi (Ita) MAG 129. Luca Scinto (Ita) MAG 130. Marco Artunghi (Ita) MER 131. Pascal Lance (Fra) BIG 132. Hernan Buenahora (Col) KEL 133. Massimo Podenzana (Ita) MER 134. Dario Frigo (Ita) SAE 135. Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) SAE 136. Jose de los Angeles (Spa) KEL all s.t. 137. Danny Nelissen (Ned) RAB 0.39 138. Francisco Cabello (Spa) KEL 1.31 139. Zenon Jaskula (Pol) MAP 1.54 140. Javier Pascual (Spa) KEL 2.22 141. Jaime Gonzalez (Col) KEL 2.22 142. Kevin Livingston (USA) COF 2.22 143. Georg Totschnig (Aut) TEL 3.07 144. Pascal Derame (Fra) USP 145. Rossano Brasi (Ita) PLT 146. Anthony Morin (Fra) BIG 147. Valentino Fois (Ita) MAP 148. Gilles Maignan (Fra) MUT 149. Benont Salmon (Fra) LOT all s.t. 150. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) CSO 7.50 151. Dominique Rault (Fra) MUT 152. Bart Voskamp (Ned) TVM 153. Laurent Pillon (Fra) MUT 154. Pavel Padrnos (Tch) ROS 155. Marco Saligari (Ita) CSO 156. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) MAG 157. Carlo Finco (Ita) MAG 158. Torsten Schmidt (Ger) ROS 159. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) CSO 160. Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) SAE 161. Eros Poli (Ita) GAN 162. Jo Planckaert (Bel) LOT 163. Viatcheslav Djavanian (Rus) ROS 164. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) MAG 165. Michele Bartoli (Ita) MAG 166. Jesper Skibby (Dan) TVM 167. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) TVM 168. Luca Colombo (Ita) BAT 169. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) CSO 170. Ludovic Auger (Fra) BIG 171. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) FDJ 172. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) BAT 173. Mirco Gualdi (Ita) PLT 174. Gordon Fraser (Can) MUT 175. Laurent Genty (Fra) BIG 176. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) CSO 177. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MAG 178. David Delrieu (Fra) MUT 179. Vitali Kokorine (Rus) ROS 180. Jean-Frangois Anti (Fra) MUT 181. Francesco Frattini (Ita) BAT 182. Stephane Cueff (Fra) MUT 183. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) COF 184. Claude Lamour (Fra) MUT 185. Gianluca Valoti (Ita) PLT all s.t. 186. Damien Nazon (Fra) FDJ 13.59
1. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) GAN 41.46.41 2. Erik Zabel (Ger) TEL 1.21 3. Chris Boardman (G-B) GAN 2.54 4. Jan Ullrich (Ger) TEL 2.56 5. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) GAN 2.59 6. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) GAN 3.04 7. Abraham Olano (Spa) BAN 3.04 8. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONC 3.06 9. Oskar Camenzind (Swi) MAP 3.22 10. Davide Rebellin (Ita) FDJ 3.24 11. Frankie Andreu (USA) COF 3.38 12. David Etxebarria (Spa) ONC 3.42 13. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) MAP 3.50 14. Bjarne Riis (Dan) TEL 3.59 15. Pascal Lino (Fra) BIG 4.09 16. Bo Hamburger (Dan) TVM 4.11 17. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) RAB 4.13 18. Nicola Minali (Ita) BAT 4.14 19. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) USP 4.17 20. Mario Traversoni (Ita) MER 4.21 21. Daniele Nardello (Ita) MAP 4.22 22. Frangois Simon (Fra) GAN 4.25 23. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) USP 4.25 24. Richard Virenque (Fra) FES 4.26 25. Henk Vogels (Aus) GAN 4.27 26. Francisco Benitez (Spa) KEL 4.29 27. Fernando Escartin (Spa) KEL 4.30 28. Stephane Heulot (Fra) FDJ 4.32 29. Laurent Madouas (Fra) LOT 4.38 30. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) FES 5.04 31. Alberto Elli (Ita) CSO 5.07 32. Bruno Cenghialta (Ita) BAT 5.09 33. Christophe Rinero (Fra) COF 5.15 34. Michael Boogerd (Ned) RAB 5.17 35. Andreo Tchmil (Ukr) LOT 5.23 36. Andrea Tafi (Ita) MAP 5.27 37. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) CSO 5.29 38. Peter Farazijn (Bel) LOT 5.37 39. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) CSO 5.46 40. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 5.50 41. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) TVM 5.54 42. Luc Leblanc (Fra) PLT 6.05 43. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) SAE 6.08 44. Marco Zen (Ita) ROS 6.12 45. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) BAN 6.18 46. Andreo Teteriuk (Kzk) LOT 6.20 47. Wilfried Peeters (Bel) MAP 6.25 48. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) PLT 6.28 49. Marty Jemison (USA) USP 6.34 50. Jon Odriozola (Spa) BAT 6.40 51. Daniele Sgnaolin (Ita) ROS 6.41 52. Bobby Julich (USA) COF 6.44 53. Arnaud Pretot (Fra) GAN 6.44 54. Peter Meinert (Dan) USP 6.47 55. Christophe Mengin (Fra) FDJ 6.48 56. Georg Totschnig (Aut) TEL 7.01 57. Laurent Brochard (Fra) FES 7.01 58. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Rus) ROS 7.05 59. Giuseppe Tartaggia (Ita) BAT 7.13 60. Patrick Jonker (Aus) RAB 7.13 61. Nicola Loda (Ita) MAG 7.14 62. Marco Pantani (Ita) MER 7.17 63. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) SAE 7.22 64. Tyler Hamilton (USA) USP 7.24 65. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) TEL 7.42 66. Manuel Beltran (Spa) BAN 7.55 67. Didier Rous (Fra) FES 7.59 68. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONC 8.00 69. Santiago Blanco (Spa) BAN 8.09 70. Hernan Buenahora (Col) KEL 8.14 71. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) COF 8.17 72. Adriano Baffi (Ita) USP 8.20 73. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) BAN 8.25 74. Gerard Rue (Fra) GAN 8.25 75. Angel Casero (Spa) BAN 8.26 76. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) ONC 8.28 77. Joona Laukka (Fin) FES 8.32 78. Roberto Conti (Ita) MER 8.38 79. Erik Breukink (Ned) RAB 8.46 80. Beat Zberg (Swi) MER 8.47 81. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) MER 8.57 82. Andrea Peron (Ita) FDJ 9.12 83. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) PLT 9.15 84. Jose Angel Vidal (Spa) KEL 9.25 85. Jose de los Angeles (Spa) KEL 9.44 86. Thierry Bourguignon (Fra) BIG 9.45 87. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RAB 9.46 88. Marino Alonso (Spa) BAN 9.50 89. Maximilian Sciandri (G-B) FDJ 9.53 90. Marco Artunghi (Ita) MER 10.02 91. Massimo Podenzana (Ita) MER 10.05 92. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) USP 10.10 93. Marcello Siboni (Ita) MER 10.13 94. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) FDJ 10.15 95. Pascal Herve (Fra) FES 10.19 96. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) LOT 10.21 97. Christophe Moreau (Fra) FES 10.23 98. Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) PLT 10.37 99. Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONC 10.41 100. Pascal Lance (Fra) BIG 10.47 101. Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) SAE 10.51 102. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM 10.55 103. George Hincapie (USA) USP 11.09 104. Javier Pascual (Spa) KEL 11.18 105. Zenon Jaskula (Pol) MAP 11.18 106. Rolf Sorensen (Dan) RAB 11.21 107. Javier Mauleon (Spa) ONC 11.26 108. Jaime Gonzalez (Col) KEL 11.36 109. Udo Bolts (Ger) TEL 11.44 110. Giusvan Piovaccari (Ita) MER 12.09 111. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) FES 12.11 112. Christian Henn (Ger) TEL 12.16 113. Johan Museeuw (Bel) MAP 12.17 114. Erik Dekker (Ned) RAB 12.20 115. Jean-Philippe Dojwa (Fra) MUT 12.36 116. Anthony Morin (Fra) BIG 12.46 117. Gerrit De Vries (Ned) PLT 12.51 118. Rolf Aldag (Ger) TEL 12.55 119. Marco Fincato (Ita) ROS 13.02 120. Gilles Maignan (Fra) MUT 13.07 121. Benont Salmon (Fra) LOT 13.16 122. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 13.19 123. Francisco Cabello (Spa) KEL 13.41 124. Kevin Livingston (USA) COF 13.49 125. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 13.53 126. Angelo Lecchi (Ita) MAG 14.41 127. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) BIG 14.42 128. Stephane Cueff (Fra) MUT 14.59 129. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) CSO 15.00 130. Dario Frigo (Ita) SAE 15.09 131. Serguei Outschakov (Ukr) PLT 15.09 132. Giorgio Furlan (Ita) SAE 15.10 133. Danny Nelissen (Ned) RAB 15.16 134. Lauri Aus (Est) CSO 15.16 135. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) COF 15.23 136. Valentino Fois (Ita) MAP 15.45 137. Roberto Sierra (Spa) ONC 15.48 138. Rossano Brasi (Ita) PLT 15.52 139. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) TVM 16.45 140. David Delrieu (Fra) MUT 16.53 141. Pascal Derame (Fra) USP 17.08 142. Claude Lamour (Fra) MUT 17.37 143. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) CSO 17.41 144. Cyril Saugrain (Fra) COF 17.43 145. Neil Stephens (Aus) FES 18.04 146. Dominique Rault (Fra) MUT 18.08 147. Frederic Guesdon (Fra) FDJ 18.10 148. Andrea Brognara (Ita) BAT 18.17 149. Jean-Frangois Anti (Fra) MUT 18.20 150. Jens Heppner (Ger) TEL 18.40 151. Jo Planckaert (Bel) LOT 18.57 152. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) FDJ 19.32 153. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MAG 19.32 154. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) ROS 19.34 155. Marcelino Garcia (Spa) ONC 19.42 156. Gianluca Valoti (Ita) PLT 19.43 157. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) CSO 20.18 158. Francesco Frattini (Ita) BAT 20.28 159. Marco Saligari (Ita) CSO 20.43 160. Philipp Buschor (Swi) SAE 20.56 161. Vitali Kokorine (Rus) ROS 21.06 162. Pavel Padrnos (Tch) ROS 21.33 163. Viatcheslav Djavanian (Rus) ROS 21.45 164. Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) BAN 22.17 165. Laurent Genty (Fra) BIG 22.22 166. Jesper Skibby (Dan) TVM 22.41 167. Carlo Finco (Ita) MAG 23.44 168. Bart Voskamp (Ned) TVM 24.00 169. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) MAG 24.11 170. Marc Wauters (Bel) LOT 24.14 171. Eros Poli (Ita) GAN 24.47 172. Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) BIG 24.59 173. Mirco Gualdi (Ita) PLT 25.56 174. Gordon Fraser (Can) MUT 26.40 175. Luca Scinto (Ita) MAG 26.48 176. Laurent Pillon (Fra) MUT 27.41 177. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) MAG 31.57 178. Michele Bartoli (Ita) MAG 32.24 179. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) CSO 34.03 180. Torsten Schmidt (Ger) ROS 34.20 181. Luca Colombo (Ita) BAT 36.30 182. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) COF 43.14 183. Damien Nazon (Fra) FDJ 46.30 184. Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) SAE 47.27 185. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) BAT 52.34 186. Ludovic Auger (Fra) BIG 56.25
Green jersey: 1. Erik Zabel (Germany) Telekom 236 points 2. Frederic Moncassin (France) GAN 169 3. Jeroen Blijlevens (Netherlands) TVM 159 4. Nicola Minali (Italy) Batik 121 5. Robbie McEwen (Australia) Rabobank 112 6. Mario Traversoni (Italy) Mercatone Uno 111 7. Francois Simon (France) GAN 106 8. Massimo Strazzer (Italy) Roslotto 88 9. Adriano Baffi (Italy) U.S. Postal 84 10. Fabio Baldato (Italy) MG Technogym 76 Polka Dot jersey: 1. Laurent Brochard (France) Festina 47 points 2. Cyril Saugrain (France) Cofidis 11 3. Arturas Kasputis (Lithuania) Casino 10 4. Flavio Vanzella (Italy) La Francaise des Jeux 8 5. Marco Saligari (Italy) Casino 6. Richard Virenque (France) Festina 7. Pascal Herve (France) Festina 8. Simon 6 9. Baldato 10. Cedric Vasseur (France) GAN 5
Had the German, winner on Tuesday and Saturday, not been disqualified for illegal tactics after crossing the line first in Friday's sixth stage at Marennes, he would have completed a hat-trick.
Zabel finished millimetres ahead of Italian Nicola Minali, winner of Wednesday's fourth stage in another photo-finish, and Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens with Frederic Moncassin of France a tight fourth and still looking for a stage win.
Frenchman Cedric Vasseur retained the overall lead and said: ``I am proud to be wearing the yellow jersey tomorrow, the 14th July, France's national day.
``I must do something exceptional tomorrow to show I'm worthy of this jersey.''
With time deductions for his victory and a win in an intermediate sprint, second-placed Zabel cut Vasseur's lead to one minute and 21 seconds.
But Zabel will now most likely step aside for the climb specialists as the riders embark on Bastille Day on a week of mountain stages in the Pyrenees that can turn current placings on their head.
``It was a very narrow victory,'' said Zabel, as he showed the winning margin by holding thumb and index finger only just apart. ``I hope to do well in the mountains and hope the suffering doesn't start yet for me.''
Zabel paid tribute to his Telekom teammates, including title holder Bjarne Riis, who have been in the leading peloton with him for the final sprint.
``We have the best riders in the last kilometres in my team, riders like (Jan) Ullrich, Riis, (Rolf) Aldag, (Giovanni) Lombardi. In the last two kilometres so far nobody has been better than us, but it's not an insurance for a win,'' Zabel said.
The German, discussing the tight conditions of sprint finishes on the Tour, said he believed his disqualification on Friday was down to an organisational error.
``There was a very dangerous bend in the last kilometre and when the peloton is tight the turn gets more dangerous,'' he said.
The riders set a very fast pace on the 161.5-km stage from Sauternes to Pau, Zabel's average speed going down as the sixth fastest ever in a road race stage, his 47.804 kph bettering the 47.801 of Italian Guido Bontempi during the 1992 Tour.
Italian Fabio Baldato helped set the fast pace with a break after 45 kms, staying in front alone until he was caught by the peloton 20 kms from the finish.
Vasseur said he believed Monday's 182-km ninth stage to Loudonvielle would start slowly as the riders adjusted to the change in conditions from road racing to climbing.
``The big fight will start at Tourmalet,'' he said, referring to the climb of just over 2,000 metres, the highest of the stage, at the 106-km mark.
The guillotine comes down on the sprinters on Bastille Day as the Tour de France heads for the mountains on Monday.
The sprinters, with Italian Mario Cipollini and then Erik Zabel of Germany dominant in the first eight stages, have had their day barring a mountain size change in the form book.
Frenchman Cedric Vasseur, who will be wearing the yellow jersey on his country's national day, leads by one minute 21 seconds, but by the end of Monday's 182-km stage the leaders' board could take a different look.
The peloton, having lost several leading riders after a string of falls, embarks on a daunting nine-day spell including seven mountain stages ending in the Swiss city of Fribourg and punctuated by a rest day in St Etienne on Thursday and a time trial on Friday.
The riders face 14 major peaks including Port d'Envalira, at 2,407 metres the highest, twice -- both on the way in to and out of Andorra on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"A second Tour de France is about to begin," said Francis Lafarge, an official of the Spanish Banesto team formerly graced by five times winner Miguel Indurain.
"We should see the sprinters gradually disappear to make way for the climbers."
Vasseur believes that Monday's stage will start slowly as the riders adapt from a week of flat stages. He thinks the fight will begin on the 2,114-metre Tourmalet after more than 100 kms.
The ninth stage, which also includes tough climbs at Souloir and Val-Louron, will be one of the toughest.
"This first stage in the Pyrenees could resemble a round of observation," Frenchman Richard Virenque, King of the Mountains in three successive Tours since 1994 and third overall last year.
"Virenque, tomorrow it's your stage," read a banner on the road into Pau.
"All the problems that have troubled the peloton since the start should call everyone to caution," added Virenque, winner of the Cauterets mountain stage in 1995 in which Italian Fabio Casartelli was killed.
"However, I'd prefer the big battle to start at once."
Italian Marco Pantani, widely regarded as the best climber in the peloton over one stage, is also keen to make up for repeated setbacks, notably a nasty accident in the Milan-Turin race in October 1995 that kept him out of racing for 16 months including last year's Tour.
"I'm not aiming for the podium," Pantani said. ``In the first (mountain) stage I'm going to see how I feel and then I'll try to win a stage."
Unlike Pantani, Spaniard Abraham Olano and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert will be defensive.
Jalabert, who began the Tour looking only for a top 10 finish, remains cautious.
"This is going to be very difficult. The objective is to lose the least time possible in this first (mountain) stage,," said the world number one. "I'm going to see how I react on the first peak. But I'm confident."
Danish title holder Bjarne Riis, on the other hand, is likely to attack straight away.
"What I fear most, in fact, are the time trials because I have done so few this year, having concentrated on my preparations for the mountains," Riis said.
"But it won't be the time trials that decide the outcome of this Tour.''
Rominger was injured in a mass pile-up some 10 kms from the end of Tuesday's stage from Vire to Plumelec in Britanny and was taken to hospital in nearby Vannes.
He was transferred to Salpetriere hospital in Paris early on Wednesday and was told he would require surgery.
Rominger, 36, winner of the Spanish Vuelta three times and the Giro d'Italia once, asked to be allowed to have the operation in his home country close to his family.
He was driven to Basle by road, arriving on Wednesday late afternoon at Bruderholz hospital where he was due to undergo surgery later in the day.