THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Prologue: World champ Cancellara hammers Tour prologue in London
Many riders finished their 7.9km prologue effort with an all-out sprint;world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara began his winning ridewith a furious sprint, and maintained that blazing pace throughout thewinding course among London's historic sites to take the first yellow jerseyof the 94th Tour de France.
Before the race, Cancellara said he wanted to show the world why he wore theworld-champion skinsuit for the time trial. And indeed he did.
After Andreas Klöden set the previous best time of 9:03, Cancellarademonstrated not only superior power but superior bike-handling on the fan-packedcourse. Cancellara came through one tight corner so fast he nearly collidedwith his leading motorcycles.
Cancellara roared across the line in 8:50, with a huge 13-second margin oversecond-placed Klöden.
Delighted with the win, the 26-year-old Swiss was happy to take the Tour's firstyellow jersey for practical reasons, too - British Airways had lost his suitcaseon the way to London.
"If I've got a beard it's not on purpose," he said coming off the podium."I've got nothing to shave with. All my stuff's in my suitcase. I hopesomeone finds it and brings it to me. But the important thing is to have theyellow jersey. I really hope I'll be returning to France with it." After weeks of torrential rains and flooding, England enjoyed a sunnyrespite just in time for the opening of the world's biggest bike race. Anestimated crowd of 1 million descended on the Tour. In addition to crowds five- to six-deep lining the entire course, thousands watched the racers on jumboscreens set up in Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square and The Mall.
Weaving among landmarks like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and BuckinghamPalace, the Tour prologue course made for a storybook setting for U.K.riders Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis) and David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir).Born in Belgium with an Australian father, Londoner Wiggins was a clearfavorite of the crowd and Tour officials. An outspoken critic of dopingwithin the peloton, Wiggins was just the type of rider on whom Tourofficials were hoping to build their public-relations campaign in light ofthe recent onslaught of doping news.
The Olympic and world champion in the individual pursuit, Wiggins had basedhis season around taking a Tour-prologue win on the streets of his youth.Millar, victor in the opening 16km TT stage of the 2000 Tour, was also aiming for the win. InLondon, local media made much of the rivalry, although Tour officialspreferred to remain low-key on the Scot, who returned to competition justbefore the Tour last year after serving a two-year suspension for EPO. Wiggins,however, was the unofficial ambassador of the sport in the lead-up to therace, until he went into seclusion a week out from the prologue to work with former prologue great Chris Boardman andfocus on Saturday’s stage.
Both men received huge support from the locals, but a storybook ending was not to be for either Wiggins orMillar, who finished fourth and 13th, respectively.
"The crowd was magic. I felt as good as could be today. I was just not up tostandard," Millar said, adding that he was confident in his improving formfor the days ahead. "I guarantee you I'm going to win a stage."
Besides the 2000 Tour opener, Millar won a road stage in 2002 and the long Pornic-Nantes TT of the 2003 Tour. None of these stage results were repealed in conjunction with the doping ban, though he did lose his 2003 world TT title and stages of the Vuelta a España and Dauphiné Libéré.
Most of the 7.9km London prologue course was fairly straightforward, but there were a coupleof tight bends that tested riders' high-speed calculations. Australian Tourveteran Stuart O'Grady (CSC) came out on the losing end in thesecond-to-last bend —- the corner where Cancellara nearly caught his leadmotorcycles —- as his pedal just clipped a foam barrier, causing him to lose his balance and get thrownover the handlebars. He quickly remounted a new bike off of his team'sfollow vehicle, but the wind had clearly been knocked out of his sails. Withhis torn number flapping in the wind, O'Grady casually rolled in with hishands on the cowhorns.
Some sprinters rode the prologue all-out; a finish near the top of theleader board means an opportunity to wear yellow in the coming flat stageswith time bonuses on the line. O'Grady in fact crossed the 4.5km time checkin good position in 5:26 (Klöden posted a 5:07). Former world champion TomBoonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) gave it everything, sprinting out of thesaddle at the finish to take 41st place, 46 seconds back. Last year's green-jersey winner, Robbie McEwen(Predictor-Lotto), seemed to be taking it relatively easy, finishing 148th,opting to save something for the long Tour ahead.
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) had the best American performance of theday with a great third place and a time of 9:13, a split second ahead of Wiggins. Of theother five Americans in the Tour, national time-trial champion DaveZabriskie (CSC) came in a disappointing 11th at 9:22.
Among the general-classification favorites, Klöden's second-place rideclearly shows the Astana rider's good form. Klöden's teammate AlexanderVinokourov finished strong in seventh place, 30 seconds behind Cancellara andjust behind Tour of Switzerland winner Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d'Épargne).American Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) rode to 26th, 40 seconds back and oneplace ahead of Denis Menchov (Rabobank). “Levi had a very bad start,” said his team manager Johan Bruyneel. “He made up a little bit at the end, but it was not a great ride. No.”
Other favorites included CadelEvans (Predictor-Lotto), 17th at 36 seconds; Michael Rogers (T-Mobile), 20that 37 seconds; Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Épargne), 32nd at 43 seconds;Carlos Sastre, 92nd at 56 seconds. Last year's runner-up, Oscar Pereiro(Caisse d'Épargne), came in 21st, 37 seconds down.
For this day, however, it was all Cancellara, the man from Switzerland whowon the 2004 Tour prologue in Liège while riding for Fassa Bortolo. Cancellara saidthe Tour's reception was great in London, a town that is also hosting theWimbledon All England tennis championships and the Formula 1 British Grand Prix this weekend.
"For the British riders, sorry," he said. "But I hope tomorrow is anotherSwiss day for Roger Federer in Wimbledon. Switzerland is at the center of world sport right now. Alinghi won the Americas Cup last week, Federer might win Wimbledon for the fifth time Sunday, and today Cancellara won the Tour de France prologue. It’s really big for us!"
2007 Tour de France
Prologue
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, 7.9km in 8:50
2. Andréas Klöden (G), Astana, at 0:13
3. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:23
4. Bradley Wiggins (GB), Cofidis, same time
5. Vladimir Gusev (Rus), Discovery Channel, at 0:25
6. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse D’Epargne, at 0:26
7. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), Astana, at 0:30
8. Thomas Dekker (Nl), Rabobank, at 0:31
9. Manuel Quinziato (I), Liquigas, at 0:32
10. Benoît Vaugrenard (F), Francaise Des Jeux, s.t.
Related stories
Cancellara’s win lifts team
O’Grady hopes for a few days’ light duty after prologue pileup
Brits’ hopes dashed as Millar, Wiggins fall short
Vande Velde’s View: Fatherhood and, oh yeah, that bike race, too
London prologue: a Casey Gibson gallery
To see how today's stage developed, simply CLICKHERE to open our Live Update Window. Then tune in to VeloNews.com on Sunday for live coverage plus web and video reports from behind the scenes of stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de France.
