Tour Day 1 results

[White Chocolate]

Lance just got 2nd in the time trial and looked fast as hell. Lost to Cancellera by less than 2 seconds. Bradley McGee was 4th, Ulrich and Hamilton were out of the top ten. It's tour time baby

Prologue Results & Overall
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo, 06:50
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 00:02
3. Gutierrez José Ivan (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 00:08
4. Bradley Mc Gee (Aus), FDJeux.com, 00:09
5. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 00:10
6. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 00:11
7. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 00:11
8. Christophe Moreau (F), Crédit Agricole, 00:12
9. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 00:12
10. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 00:12

11. Gutierrez José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 00:14
12. Angel Vicioso (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 00:15
13. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 00:15
14. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 00:15
15. Arvesen Kurt-Asle (Nor), CSC, 00:16
16. Jan Ullrich (G), TMO, 00:17
17. Floyd Landis (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 00:18
18. Tyler Hamilton (USA), Phonak, 00:18
19. Viatceslav Ekimov (Rus), U.S. Postal Service, 00:19
20. Andrea Peron (I), CSC, 00:19

[Artie Fufkin]

Nice showing by Lance, the winner apparently is Switzerland's TT champion and that was the 3rd fastest prologue per Velonews. Tyler and Jan not even in the top 10. Much racing left, but Lance fires the first shot amongst the contenders and shows he's not "washed up." He's already 17" on Jan!

[L7]

Cancellara 23 years old and in his first TDF. Not a bad first day.

[cumerritt]

OK, now its great that everyone is pumped and whatnot for the tour, but it was a 4 mile time trial and there are 20 days left. This stage could almost be meaningless in the larger scheme of things.

[Artie Fufkin]

Originally posted by cumerritt
OK, now its great that everyone is pumped and whatnot for the tour, but it was a 4 mile time trial and there are 20 days left. This stage could almost be meaningless in the larger scheme of things.

You're probably right. But take a look at the 1989 Tour, Lemond beat Fignon by 8". Granted it was the closest ever. But you never know, 17" could make all the difference. There is still alot of racing, but Lance was faster today than all of the other contenders.

[cumerritt]

very true. who knows what is going to happen.

[TeleAl]

It's only Day 1/21.

I saw Hamilton win the Tour du Romandie a couple years ago. On the last day, a time trial, he finished 1m42s ahead of everyone. He blew the field away. He won the same race again this year. Go Tyler!

Competition will be fierce this year. Jan U. is determined to win another Tour (don't forget he won one already while wearing the White Jersey), and Hamilton should pose a greater threat than last year (without a broken collar bone). I only name these two, but there are plenty of others. I will not bet on Lance this year, although I did the last years.

As for who I want to win...I want a battle to the end, with no injuries.

The race starts in the mountains. Anything before that is all show.

[Plakespear]

Lance will win the Tour unless a crash or similar injury does him in. He has the psychological advantage, not to mention the luxury of having the only team who's entire season revolves around helping him with the Tour. He's so prepared to win this race it's unbelievable.

Still, it will be a battle royale for most of the next three weeks (the first few days are for the sprinters to duke it out on the flats and try to beat Petacchi and the Fassa Bartolo locomotive)

[fondigley]

The first day was not bad, but definately short. Those riders will just get better as we go too. It is too early to get all mental about the riders. They are all top notch. Especially at a race, like the Tour' you can never tell what will happen, but like said above, one wreck could change everything..

All I can say is, "I can't wait."

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

[UTdave]

What the hell was up with some of their helmets? Mcewen looked like a bobble head. Honestly when somebody has no chance (not talking about Robbie) of ever sniffing yellow they could at least not look retarted.

[bagtagley]

What the hell was up w/ the commentation....Brits, Americans, Brits, Americans. I'd get up to take a piss and it'd be Sherwin and Ligget, when I got back it was Roll and Trautwig. Were they switching off between commercial breaks?

I used to bitch about the Brits, but I'll take those two over the Americans any day. I'm a huge fan of Bob Roll's, but he started to grind on my nerves.

[L7]

17 seconds can't be sniffed at. It's not huge but it's not like Ullrich has taken that kind of time out of Armstrong before.

The main benefit of Armstrong's ride is psychological. He had a strong ride and beat all the contenders substantially by percentage (if that were a 61km TT that would translate to almost 3 minutes, ouch). He's still fastest and I think he's already proven he can do it over longer distances and keep it up over 3 weeks. It shows he's on form and probably better form then he was last year. That has to strike fear in anyone thinking he was getting old.

Today's stage was a good watch. I love when the breakaway gets caught pretty much in sight of the finish. That has to be demoralizing.

Did anyone see the move Macewan made to bang the other AG2R rider out of the way and let him clear to the finish line? I'm amazed there aren't more wrecks in those sprints when the riding gets that aggresive.

I thought they were calling for a hot dry summer in Europe this year. That looked anything but today.

[Artie Fufkin]

Originally posted by L7

Today's stage was a good watch. I love when the breakaway gets caught pretty much in sight of the finish. That has to be demoralizing.

It seems that many times the peloton lets the break hang and then swallows them up at the end, brutal. I would imagine today was tough on the nerves, a few riders went down on the slick roads. Mario banged himself up.

I was watching the TV coverage at a local bakery and they showed a Phonak rider on the ground, the first thought was that it was Tyler, but it was a teammate.

Edit: I was just checking out the Velonews coverage, I guess Tyler did crash about 100k into the stage, nothing but scratches. But I imagine he'll get in a good wreck at some point.

[L7]

Originally posted by Artie Fufkin
I guess Tyler did crash about 100k into the stage, nothing but scratches. But I imagine he'll get in a good wreck at some point.

Avoiding crashing just doesn't seem to be his strong suit. Maybe he doesn't feel enough pain to realize the other reasons for avoiding them. Sort of like never experiencing a hang over can lead to alcoholism.

His penchant for crashing is why I don't expect him to do that well even though he deserves it and is probably capable.

[TeleAl]

Day 2/21

First my condolences to my fellow Americans who are subject to poor commentary and commercial breaks. On this side of the pond we get the full tour, uninterrupted, start to finish. It's in French, so if they are saying completely dumb ass stuff just to hear themselves talk, I tune out.

On to the Tour:
Although I applauded yesterday at Hamilton's consistent performance in the Tour du Romandie by winning it twice in a row, I will not applaud at his consistent falling on the 2nd day of the Tour de France.

Tyler, keep both wheels on the road. I'm routing for you.

Swiss dude Cancellara holds the Yellow two days in a row. Get it while you can.

Lance remains the man, and he was wearing the Green today. He sits in 3rd at 8s behind (3 sips of water). His competition has their work cut out for themselves. But, who's it gonna be?

One thing is for certain, all these sprinter types will be forgotten by day 3 of the hills, if they don't already drop out by then. If I wasn't a pacifist, I would suggest the death sentence for the likes of the quitters when the hills arrive (especially after winning a sprint stage--see last year).

The race starts in the mountains. Anything before that is all show.