Chris Horner is going into the Tour de France with lots of uncertainty as he has just recovered from horrific crash and only has four days of racing in his legs. The Vuelta champion makes it clear that he will do what his team asks him to do but that may see him go for a top result in the overall standings.

When he signed a contract with Lampre-Merida, Chris Horner was set to be the team leader in the Giro and the Vuelta while Rui Costa would be the sole captain for the Tour de France. However, a bad crash in training caused Horner to miss the Giro and now the American suddenly finds himself in Leeds for the start of the French grand tour.

The crash left Horner with broken ribs and a punctured lung and he only returned to racing in the Tour de Slovenie where he showed some solid condition by finishing 12th overall. The result was enough to convince the team management to select him for the Tour and they have made it clear that they prefer him to ride for the GC.

Horner himself, however, goes into the race with low expectations and just expects to do the job his team asks him to do.

"I’m feeling close to 100 percent healed, but I’m not sure what my form will be," he told Velonews. "The injuries from getting hit were a lot more severe than my knee injury [sustained early last season], so the recovery has been longer and a lot more complicated. I won’t really know how I’m feeling until I get into the Tour, and even then I will take it day by day and just do my best to help the team.
 

"I’m going in with the plan of doing whatever the team needs, but whether that will be working for the team or fighting for GC, I won’t really know until we get through the first week and see how everyone is feeling and how GC looks at that point. Anything can happen in the first week of the Tour, so it is impossible to plan until we get through that point."

Horner's best result in the Tour is a 9th place finish in 2010.