SWISS TREAT
Swiss national Fabien Cancellara smoked the ProTour field at the London prologue of the Tour de France. He and his CSC teammates will look to hold on to the yellow jersey in stage 1 today, a 203-km ride from London to Canterbury.
Rainbow Warrior
CSC's Fabien Cancellara blows the field away to win Tour de France prologue
By Joe Lindsey
LONDON, July 7, 2007:
Never mind the jitters.
The greatest event in cycling kicked off today against a troublesome backdrop: ongoing doping scandals for the sport, and London's most recent brush with terror attacks which, thankfully, caused no casualties.
Against that background, racing seemed a trifling matter, perhaps, but hundreds of thousands of spectators nonetheless lined a picturesque 7.9-kilometer route past some of London's most famous landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, to cheer on the racers.
With no major favorites heading into the Tour, it was an open question who would win the race's first yellow jersey. The good bets for the fast, technical course were the time trial specialists and, sure enough, CSC's Fabian Cancellara delivered, with a blistering 8:50 time, an average speed of 53.7 kilometers an hour.
Cancellara, who rolled down the start ramp in the rainbow jersey as reigning world time trial champion, proved the only rider capable of beating Astana's Andreas Kloden, who set his own ridiculously fast time earlier in the day. American George Hincapie (Discovery) was good enough for third place, 23 seconds behind Cancellara's time.
Cancellara's victory came despite a frazzled arrival for the Swiss racer, as his luggage got lost and he started the prologue sporting a very un-aerodynamic growth of stubble on his face but, after his win, he could afford to be lighthearted about the missing baggage. "It's not on purpose," he laughed about the beard. "I've got nothing to shave with. All my stuff is in my suitcase, and I hope someone finds it and brings it to me!"
The day was supposed to have been a breakout for the British riders - the host country sported not one, but two possible winners, Cofidis' Bradley Wiggins and David Millar of Saunier Duval-Prodir. For Millar, who won a prologue four years ago, it would have been a triumphant return after serving a two-year ban for admitting doping. Both set off to huge cheers from the home crowd, but neither could capitalize on the home road advantage - Millar finishing a disappointing 12th and Wiggins tying Hincapie for third.
Among the favorites, Kloden and his teammate, Alexandre Vinokourov, were best off on a topsy-turvy day. Elsewhere, it was typically riders who will fill support roles with the best performances for their teams: Hincapie and Vladimir Gusev of Discovery, for example, or Caisse d'Epargne's Vladimir Karpets, in sixth.
That should set up a competitive first week as the sprinters vie to get in stage wins, while CSC, who has at best an outside shot at a top-three overall finish with Carlos Sastre, tries to defend Cancellara's jersey.
Among the sprinters, all eyes will be on Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) to renew his battle with Quick Step's Tom Boonen. Both will be looking to score a quick win here, especially Boonen, since his 2006 Tour ended ignominiously with a DNF due to knee injury and no stage wins.
Boonen says he feels "a little fresher" than last year and is relaxed. "I just want to ride my bike, have a nice time and win a stage - that's my first objective," he said. They'll face Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd, the Lampre tandem of Daniele Bennati and Alessandro Ballan, and Milram's Erik Zabel, who is the lone sprinter for his team now that Alessandro Petacchi has been suspended for suspicious result on a doping test.
Tomorrow: The first road stage, a 203-kilometer run from London to Canterbury, evokes Chaucer's classic medieval tale of a group of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral.
Factfile on Fabian Cancellara
Date of Birth: March 18, 1981
Place of Birth: Berne
Nationality: Swiss
Height: 185cm
Weight: 80kg
Teams: Mapei (2001-2002), Fassa Bortolo (2003-2005), CSC (since 2006)
Tour de France record
Appearances: 4
Stage wins: 2 (2004, 2007)
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