The term "nervous" is on every rider and manager's lips when asked to describe the demands of the early phase of the race, but what they mean is more complex than a few shivers of anticipation at the prospect of a tricky bit of road or two.
Call it a sixth sense, but there are moments when Lost in Showbiz feels the hands of its readers tugging imploringly at its sleeve, their faces upturned, their eyes beseeching, an urgent question forming on their lips.
Their company, Peppermongers, seeks out the stuff that actually makes your lips tingle, selling it alongside a range of other peppery spices.
Read my lips, look at my jeans, feel my stubble.
As the trams had stopped and there was no one to be seen, he decided to indulge himself and began skipping down the road with three dangerous words on his lips.
"You'd pay a fortune for this in a hotel," said my partner, trying not to get the mud on her lips.
A young girl dressed like an angel, her face painted deathly white save for her red lips and the bright pink crescents around her eyes, is led on horseback through a curious crowd.
Electricity is actually the biggest issue on people's lips – in a region famous for its oil, electricity is intermittent at best," he said.
"When I come here today, what do I feel?... ...... she says, pursing her lips.
Beside the message was a photograph of a nameless elderly Somali woman swathed in a red scarf, her lips pressed tightly together, wrinkly palm outstretched, eyes gazing imploringly out of the computer screen.
Her next single, Lips Are Movin', is out on Sunday and sounds almost identical, except worse.
