Professional Cycling For the Fans - GC Question

Garmin has Bradley Wiggins in 6th place and Vandevelde in 12th place. Does Wiggins become their GC contender now that he has the best standing after 4 stages? Also, once they hit the mountains and if he drops back I'm assuming that Vandevelde would become the GC then.

How about Columbia with Hincapie in 17th. If the other riders drop in the mountains is it possible that Hincapie could become a GC rider then?

The "GC man" whom a team is counting on for the overall win will not necessarily be the one with the best time at any given stage. It is based more on past performance and what the team knows the riders are capable of.

Wiggins is no climber, and thus has no chance at the overall GC (its not being mean, its just a reality since every rider has a specialty). The team wil most likely not give him any special treatment and continue to protect and plan their strategy around Vande Velde since he has shown the ability maintain high GC placement in previous races.

During the first week of the tour, the GC standings are more of a formality than a determinant. It is quite typical for TT specialists and sprinters to be high on the standings, but any team with good tactics will stand by the men they know will shine in the mountains and climb up the GC when the competition becomes serious.

As a mater of fact, there have been times in the tour when the race "leader" is ordered back to the team car and stuffs the yellow jersey full of water bottles to be taken up to the "real" team leader.

Domestiques end up in yellow sometimes by happy coincidence, but it doest turn the team on its head.

And Hincapie as GC contender failed rather badly. After he won a mountain stage in the 2005 TDF, Discovery played around with Hincapie riding for GC in 2006. It didn't work out very well.