No, Zabriskie won't be donning a yellow jersey. Realistically, the Salt Lake City native may be more than an hour behind the winner, but he'll be celebrating nonetheless - if the man pouring the champagne is Zabriskie's teammate, Team CSC leader Ivan Basso.

Basso, third in the 2004 Tour, is one of Armstrong's chief rivals. While Zabriskie, like most of the 189 competitors in cycling's marquee race, is in France as part of the supporting cast.

"Everyday you have a job to do - whether it's getting bottles or protecting [Basso] from the wind," Zabriskie said via phone from his training base in Spain. "Then, you just roll into the finish line and do it all again the next day. There could be days when I'll probably lose huge amounts of time."

Knowing when to conserve energy and when to push is the key to surviving three grueling weeks, the 26-year-old said. Having ridden in two of the three other grand tours (Spain and Italy), Zabriskie has some inkling of what's in store. But heading into his first Tour de France, he admits there are some nerves. "I'm sure it'll hit me as soon as I get there and see all the people."

The crowds are the most overwhelming part, said former Tour rider Marty Jemison, another Salt Lake City native. "The most amazing and remarkable thing about the Tour de France is just the masses of people," he said, adding that during the 1997 Tour, he rode by an estimated half a million people each day.

Aside from the sheer spectacle, there's the pain.

"Everyone I talk to says it's a different race. Going into the Tour, I'm not sure what to expect," Zabriskie said. "For sure, it's the hardest of the three [grand tours]."

Just making the Tour squad is a sign of Zabriskie's rise during this, his breakout year as a professional. Of each team's 20-plus pool of riders, only nine make the final cut.

Two crashes - a collision with an SUV in Millcreek Canyon in 2003 and another in the spring of 2004 in a race in California - left his racing future in doubt. His left leg has "taken longer [to heal] than I thought it would. . . . It's never going to be the same, but I guess I'll just have to get by," he said.

He finally began to regain form late last season, winning a stage of the Vuelta a Espa a (Tour of Spain) and placing fifth in the time trial at the World Championships while riding for Armstrong's U.S. Postal team (now the Discovery Channel team).

Zabriskie's biggest moment came in the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), where he won an individual time trial and rode well in support of race-leader Basso until the Italian faltered with a stomach virus.

"It feels really good to be at this high of a level. There's not really time [to enjoy it]. I'm sure as soon as everything slows down again, I'll stop and say 'wow' a little bit."

That success left CSC director Bjarne Riis with little choice but to include Zabriskie on the Tour team.

"He already helped me win the Tour of [the Mediterranean] - he rode like almost three [men] and was the backbone of our defense, and it looked like it was the same at the Giro," CSC's Jens Voigt told cyclingnews.com. "He can really dig deep and really hurt himself."

Individually, Zabriskie's biggest moment in the Tour de France could come on Day 1. The traditional opening prologue - a short time trial - has been scrapped in favor of a slightly longer individual time trial, the Utahn's speciality.

"For me it's a good thing. It improves my chances of doing well. Of course I think about [wearing the yellow jersey]," he said. "I'm sure everyone does. To win would be very nice because these guys are the best of the best."