On an exceedingly hot and humid day in Monaco, the eyes of the world turned to the start of the 96th Tour de France. Today's opening stage, an individual time trial of 15.5km, covered some of the same territory as the famed Monaco Grand Prix and managed to traverse a considerable portion of this tiny principality of two square kilometers. After 180 riders launched themselves around the circuit, it was the Swiss specialist Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) who emerged victorious with a time of 19 minutes 32 seconds (47.6 km/h) and the first yellow jersey as his reward.
Cancellara put 18 seconds between himself and his closest rival, 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, followed by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins in third place. Yet even if Saxo Bank earned the day's glory, the Astana team put Contador, Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, and Lance Armstrong in the top ten, sending a clear warning sign ahead of Tuesday's team time trial Montpellier.
"I knew with the climbing that I couldn't be going at my maximum and building up too much lactic acid because there was the descent and the flat, and that's where I knew I could make the difference," Cancellara explained.
"I ride fast when I come from the back," he added, referring in large part to a difficult spring plagued by illness, injury and bad luck. "In the next weeks I'll ride stronger and stronger. I think that I'm really fast now and that's good."
|  Cancellara receives the yellow jersey from Monaco's Prince Albert II | | (Photo: Roberto Bettini) |
A Royal Opener Monaco's Prince Albert II dropped the flag in the start house as Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) was the first rider to take to the course. Van Hummel didn't stand much of a chance to take the stage but he was the first to experience the electric crowd that lined all corners of the course, which almost evenly split into an uphill first half and downhill second.
Lance Armstrong started uncharacteristically early - the 18th rider off the line - and set a short-lived early best time. The comeback man looked strong but may have overspent on the initial slopes of the tough course up to the Moyenne Corniche. Armstrong admitted to some nerves before his much-touted return to the roads of France. The seven-time Tour winner eventually finished in a respectable 10th place, 40 seconds back.
"It was up, it was flat, it was down... It was a technical course, but overall I felt good," he said after cooling down at the team bus. "I didn't have any big illusions to win or to take the jersey I'd expect a super, super performance but relative to a guy like [the specialists], it's not bad."
"I was focused enough," he added, asked about his mental state. "I was nervous, which is logical."
After Armstrong it was Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer who set the time of reference that would hold for over an hour before yet another of Johan Bruyneel's charges took over: Andreas Kloden. The German whirled in with eight seconds over Leipheimer, dousing fourth of July hopes for many but keeping the chance of a yellow jersey within the Astana camp.
Kloden's time would eventually fall victim first to Wiggins and then to the onslaught of heavy favorites as the likes of Contador, Evans, Menchov and Cancellara. Of these heavy-hitters, Menchov was the biggest disappointment, caught and passed for a minute and a half by Cancellara as he neared the finish. The Giro d'Italia winner clearly had an off day and will have his work cut out for him to repair the damage.
Contador, meanwhile, was not displeased with his second place finish. Resplendent in the jersey of the Spanish national time trial champion, he expressed his satisfaction with the strong performances of his teammates and once more sought to downplay the anticipated rivalries among them.
"I hope Team Astana will win the Tour," Contador said. "We have a very strong team with Levi, Armstrong, and everyone and I think we can work together to win the race." Wearing the polka dot jersey having set the fastest time to the course summit, he made no secret of what he hopes will happen next. "Of course I would love to change jerseys," he said. "This one is very nice but I would prefer to put on the yellow."
Cancellara will lead the Tour's first road stage Sunday, a 187km trek from Monaco to Brignolles as the race says au revoir to the glitz of this principality and launches westward into France. "We'll be looking at things from day to day, but we don't want to give back the yellow jersey," he said in reference to the week to come. "We know what we have to do and we have our goals for the coming weeks."
Stage 1: July 4, Monaco - Monaco 15.5 km 1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI / Saxo Bank) 19min 32sec 2. Alberto Contador (SPA / Astana) @ 0:18 3. Bradley Wiggins (GBR / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 0:19 4. Andreas Kloden (GER / Astana) @ 0:22 5. Cadel Evans (AUS / Silence-Lotto) @ 0:23 6. Levi Leipheimer (USA / Astana) @ 0:30 7. Roman Kreuziger (CZE / Liquigas) @ 0:32 8. Tony Martin (GER / Team High Road-HTC @ 0:33 9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA / Liquigas) @ 0:37 10. Lance Armstrong (USA / Astana) @ 0:40
Overall Classification After Stage 1 1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI / Saxo Bank) 19min 32sec 2. Alberto Contador (SPA / Astana) @ 0:18 3. Bradley Wiggins (GBR / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 0:19 4. Andreas Kloden (GER / Astana) @ 0:22 5. Cadel Evans (AUS / Silence-Lotto) @ 0:23 6. Levi Leipheimer (USA / Astana) @ 0:30 7. Roman Kreuziger (CZE / Liquigas) @ 0:32 8. Tony Martin (GER / Team High Road-HTC @ 0:33 9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA / Liquigas) @ 0:37 10. Lance Armstrong (USA / Astana) @ 0:40 |