It's often a tough task to tell at a glance which teams are doing well at the Tour de France, there are 22 of them going around France, each with their own objectives and strengths.
So borrowing a tool from other sports, Cycling Central will run a Power Rankings this Tour de France. It's a quick guide to which teams are excelling and which are unlucky or faring poorly.
1. Quick-Step Floors (up one position)
For one of the ugliest TTT performances by a major team this season, it was certainly effective. The squad split on the climb midway through the stage and there was a nervous wait for the stragglers to chase back on. A loss of momentum would normally cost a team a massive chunk of time, and perhaps it did, but Quick-Step Floors still managed a third-place finish.
The Belgian squad is super competitive and is not afraid to show it and it will, throughout this Tour de France.
Best Results: 1st - Fernando Gaviria - Stage 1, 3rd Team Time Trial, 1 day in Yellow.
2. BORA-hansgrohe (down one position)
Not a great TTT from BORA-hansgrohe and the big surprise was the yellow jersey slipping away as Peter Sagan lost contact midway through the stage.
Then again it was always going to be near impossible for the team to defend the jersey on this stage. The main objective is the sprint classification and stage wins. Achievement unlocked with both so far.
Best Results: 1st - Peter Sagan - Stage 2, 2nd - Peter Sagan - Stage 2, 1 day in Yellow.
3. BMC (up seventeen positions)
Greg van Avermaet vaults his way up into the yellow jersey and Tejay van Garderen is right up there as well after a clinical performance from BMC in the race against the clock.
Smarting after a rough start to the race, the precision BMC machine was a thing of beauty on Stage 3. The riders did all the little things right, peeling off and remaining close to the line to get the maximum wind buffer, smoothing out the accelerations to maintain a constant speed and not using up riders too early.
No telling how long the team will keep the jersey. BMC won't want to use too much energy early in the race, but it's a nice prize to have and it won't give it up for free.
Best Result: 1st - Team Time Trial, Yellow Jersey.
4. Team Sky (up fifteen positions)
It was quite a sight. Seeing a team booed as they competed along the roads through a sea of resentment. But it didn't slow them down and it was a good showing from the squad.
Chris Froome is now back on equal pegging with the majority of the GC favourites and Geraint Thomas is sitting pretty as the best of the real candidates for yellow.
Best Result: 2nd - Team Time Trial.
5. Team Sunweb (up eight positions)
It was a slow start for the TTT world champions, but Sunweb rallied and finished a respectable fifth. Tom Dumoulin is in a super strong position now, sitting just 11 seconds off the lead of Greg van Avermaet and well ahead of most of his GC rivals.
Michael Matthews has a few stages coming up that should suit his talents well and with a good run of results, it's possible the Australian could end up in yellow.
Best Result: 7th - Michael Matthews - Stage 1
6. Mitchelton-Scott (up sixteen positions)
The Australian-registered squad bounced back impressively in the race against the clock. Going into the stage with a number of riders beaten up from crashes, they performed above expectations and put Yates back in a position where he can continue his bid for the yellow jersey.
Best Result: 5th - Team Time Trial
7. Wanty-Groupe Gobert (down four positions)
It was never going to be a big day for the Belgian squad, but they got to show off the polka dot jersey for another stage.
Best Result: KOM jersey - Dion Smith
8. Katusha-Alpecin (down two positions)
A solid TTT from the squad in support of Ilnur Zakarin's GC ambitions. Nothing wrong with his campaign so far, but the team hopes Kittel can break through for a sprint win before too long.
Best Result: 3rd - Marcel Kittel - Stage 1
9. EF Education First-Drapac (up six positions)
Team Argyle has quietly gone about its work so far. At least as quietly as possible in hot pink and with one rider (Lawson Craddock) quickly becoming the model of how to ride tough.
An unexpectedly strong TTT has Rigoberto Uran sitting just over half a minute off the lead and with a handy gap on many of his GC rivals.
Best Result: 41st - Rigoberto Uran - Stage 2
10. Bahrain Merida (down six positions)
A below par TTT in support of Nibali's ambitions. Far from out of the hunt though and 'the Shark' will be looking hungrily at the cobbles of Stage 9.
Best Result: 2nd - Sonny Colbrelli - Stage 2
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TTT prompts moving day on GC
11. Astana (up four positions)
Astana did quite well in this stage considering the absence of noted time trial exponent Luis Leon Sanchez, who abandoned on Stage 2. Packed in cotton wool so far this Tour, Jakob Fuglsang is in as good a spot as any of the main contenders.
Best Result: 9th - Jakob Fuglsang - Stage 1
12. Movistar (down one position)
Not the performance the Spanish squad wanted. Movistar's big hope, Nairo Quintana is now over two minutes down on the race lead.
Quintana losing so much time is the main reason the team is quite low down these rankings. Movistar still has co-leaders Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde in good positions and it will be interesting to see how the team dynamics work for the rest of the race.
Best Result: 7th - Alejandro Valverde - Stage 2
13. Groupama- FDJ (down six positions)
Groupama-FDJ had no real ambitions to do well in this stage and performed just fine if you bear that in mind.
Demare will like the look of Stage 4.
Best Result: 3rd - Arnaud Demare - Stage 2
14. Trek-Segafredo (down six positions)
Trek-Segafredo hasn't been awful so far in this Tour de France, but is at risk of being an anonymous team for the race unless its riders can do something to break out of the mould.
Bauke Mollema is in decent shape despite the team producing an average TTT.
Best Result: 8th - John Degenkolb - Stage 1
15. AG2R-La Mondiale (down two positions)
Another average TTT that won't alarm anyone within the French squad. If Bardet was told he'd be just 24 seconds behind Porte and 20 seconds down on Froome after the TTT he would have jumped at it immediately.
This isn't the terrain for him. The mountains can't come soon enough for AG2R La Mondiale.
Best Result: 24th on GC - Romain Bardet
16. Lotto NL-Jumbo (down two positions)
A disappointing TTT given the strength of Steven Kruijswijk and Primoz Roglic in the individual TT. Combined with a few missed opportunities in the sprints for Dylan Groenewegen and it's clearly not going to plan for the Dutch outfit.
Best Result: 6th - Dylan Groenewegen - Stage 1
17. UAE Team Emirates (same)
This was a danger stage for Dan Martin's general classification ambitions. The team did concede quite a lot of time, but after the wash-up from the first few stages Martin isn't that far out of the race for the maillot jaune.
Far from his best this season, Alexander Kristoff has managed two consecutive top five finishes in the first two stages here and is being piloted into the right spots to win. Whether he has the legs to pull off a stage win remains to be seen.
Best Result: 4th - Alexander Kristoff - Stage 1
18. Fortuneo-Samsic (down nine positions)
Bit of a nothing stage from the perspective of the wildcard squad, but it at least recorded a respectable time.
Best Result: 1 day in KOM jersey - Kevan Ledanois
19. Direct Energie (down nine positions)
Again there was little to gain from pushing too hard on this stage and at least avoided embarrassment.
Best Result: 13th - Thomas Boudat - Stage 1
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20. Lotto Soudal (up eight positions)
Very little motivation for the squad to put in a good performance here with little chance of winning or protecting GC ambitions. Hard to see exactly how Lotto Soudal will take a win at this point, unless its riders can really deliver Greipel.
Best Result: 4th - Andre Greipel - Stage 2
21. Cofidis (down nine positions)
A bad performance in the TTT. It was hard to watch poor old Dani Navarro at the end of the stage, he's not the best time triallist, but he tried to sprint into the finish line, gapping the rest of the squad and accomplishing nothing.
It's a pity as the Spaniard may have made a decent GC run this year with his good form but is already hamstrung.
Best Result: 5th - Christophe Laporte - Stage 1
22. Dimension Data (down one position)
Nothing has worked so far for this squad, but definitely has the ability to turn things around with the talent on the roster. Just need a bit of luck.
Best Result: 19th - Edvald Boasson Hagen - Stage 1
