Stage Details

Prologue - Saturday, July 6: Luxembourg - Luxembourg

Stage 1

Distance:	7.3km
Start Location:	Place du Glacis - Luxembourg
Start Time:	First rider start: 4 p.m., then at one-minute intervals for 189 riders.
Description:	Course: This is just about as tricky (and as slow) as a prologue course can be. Besides containing about 20 turns, there are stretches of cobblestones, narrow streets in the old town of Luxembourg and three bridge crossings. The 7.3km course drops 225 feet in the first 2km to the Alzette River; climbs back 100 feet beneath the city walls at 4km; drops back to the riverbank; and then climbs 150 feet up the switchback Cat. 4 Rue de Prague at 5km. The last 2km is on straight, wider roads, slightly uphill to the Rue des Glacis. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain or there’ll be a host of riders falling. History: This is the second time that the Tour has started in Luxembourg, In 1989, on a different course, Dutchman Erik Breukink won the 7.8km prologue at 47.272 kph, six seconds faster than Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond — who would fight out the Tour overall that year. The bigger news was the 2:40 late start by defending champion Pedro Delgado. “I simply lost sense of time,” he said. Favorites: This is similar, but more technical than the 1999 Tour prologue at Le Puy du Fou, where Lance Armstrong beat runner-up Alex Zülle by seven seconds. The Texan is again the big favorite, but don’t count out riders like Santiago Botero, David Millar, Tyler Hamilton, Rik Verbrugghe and Levi Leipheimer.