I decided not to talk too much about strategies because I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to do it justice. Plus, I didn’t want the article to be too long and complicated.

You are absolutely correct about the teams wanting to get into the breakaway as perhaps their main goal in a race. An interesting wrinkle in this year’s TDF is that there are no lower level Pro teams like B&B Hotels or Bugos BH who would be sending a rider or two up the road each stage. As you say, they would have no greater ambitions than having their sponsors on camera for three hours.