sailor

Stage 1, July 2nd -- Fromentine - Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile

Normally the Tour opens with a short prologue, a very short individual time trial, usually significantly less than five miles long. It's more of a show, and none of the serious contenders really bother with it, seeking only to limit their time losses. They'll let the other guys compete for it. This year is a bit different, however. In the place of the standard short prologue, there is a 19km individual time trial. While still shorter than most time trials, it is long enough that the big dogs will come out to play, attempting to take time from their rivals. This should, and did, make things interesting.

There really isnt any good way to summarize an ITT except to list notable finishes. First, the guy who won, was Dave Zabriskie, an American rider on team CSC. Still a very young rider, he is becoming quite well known for his time trialing ability, and his ride today only cemented that--he set the fastest average time in a TdF time trial ever, and since it was the first stage, took the yellow jersey as well, becoming only the third American to do so. A simply brilliant ride, but he doesnt have the climbing skills to be a serious threat for the overall.

Then we come to Lance's ride. Two words: Holy. Shit. While he has always been a good time trialer, he quite simply opened up a can of whoopass and poured it all over everyone. Jan Ullrich, the German who has always been Lance's arch-nemesis and chief Tour rival, had started a minute before Lance. Now, Jan is himself a badass of a time trialer. In fact, this is generally where he shines, and where he tends to take most of his time out of his rivals. Lance CAUGHT and PASSED Jan out on the course. Jan has NEVER been caught and passed in a time trial before, and that it happened on such a short one makes it even more incredible. Furthermore, Lance's ride was similarly better than every other contender, and he took at least a minute out of everyone who could be considered a threat on the FIRST DAY. All that is, except the Khazakstani (did I spell that right?) Alexander Vinokourov, who "only" lost 53 seconds to Lance. Any doubts people might have had about Lance's form were silenced.

So what does this mean? Well, the race isnt over yet--three weeks is a long time. However, it does mean that Lance is as strong, or stronger, than ever, while his competitors don't seem to have brought their best game to the race. My view is that barring a crash, sickness, or him just unexpectedly crashing, he has this race won. I know, I know, I shouldnt say that this early in the race, but a MINUTE on the FIRST stage, is a lot of time. He'll probably take more time on Tuesday's Team Time Trial as well. It also means that the vaunted Jan Ullrich is pretty much out of the race, given that his climbing skills have never really been as good at Lance's. I think this is a good thing though, as leadership of his team will pass to Vinokourov, who is a better climber, and more importantly, very combatitive--he might actually attack Lance in the mountains rather than just sort of cruise around France for three weeks on Lance's back wheel. Should make for a good race.

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