ROTTERDAM, (Reuters) – The Tour de France began yesterday in a near carbon copy of last year’s edition, with the victory of Fabian Cancellara in the prologue and the promise of a showdown between Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.
Switzerland’s Cancellara is the time-trial world and Olympic champion — the best active prologue specialist in the peloton — and he made a point of clocking a perfect time of 10 minutes on the 8.9-km of slippery roads in Rotterdam.
German Tony Martin, who opted for an early start to avoid intermittent rain, led the race for hours before bowing to the rider known as ‘Spartacus’ by 10 seconds.
Briton David Millar was third, 20 seconds off the pace, 10 years after his prologue win near the Futuroscope theme park.
“This victory really gets us going,” said Cancellara who started in penultimate position when the roads had dried a little. “It shows I’m ready, the (Saxo Bank) team is ready,” he told reporters.
Cancellara probably took more risks than most riders, who were saving strength for the three weeks ahead, but he did not want to tempt fate too much, riding with his bib — number 13 — upside down out of superstition.
The Tour did not start well for Saxo Bank team leader Andy Schleck of Luxembourg who finished one minute nine seconds behind Cancellara and trails the other main contenders, namely Contador and Armstrong. Armstrong, the seven-times champion, took a promising fourth place, 22 seconds behind the winner.
“I knew I felt good and most of it is just general condition,” said Armstrong who has been the subject of new doping allegations by former team mate Floyd Landis.
“The days when this (prologue) was my speciality are past but I can’t complain, I felt pretty good today.”
The result may be an indication the Texan is “a little ahead” compared to last year, for it was the first time he has beaten Contador in a time trial since his return from retirement last season.
WIGGINS
DISAPPOINTMENT
Contador, the 2007 and 2009 champion, was close, losing only five seconds to former team mate Armstrong.
“I did not have my best rhythm today,” said the Spaniard who has been hampered by flu since his last race two weeks ago. “But it’s natural because I did not race too much lately.”
For Cancellara the victory was also a reply to allegations he may have used an engine-powered bike to win the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders classics in April.
For the first time stewards from UCI, cycling’s governing body, scanned bikes yesterday to detect possible electrical devices.
“Of course they found nothing. It’s just a bike and Fabian is just a champion,” said Cancellara’s team chief Bjarne Riis.
Briton Bradley Wiggins, fourth last year, was one of the main disappointments of the day, finishing 77th, 56 seconds adrift.
“I was happy with how I felt physically and the numbers I put out but I didn’t want to chance anything,” the Olympic pursuit champion said.
“I said the prologue wasn’t the be all and end all for me. I’m just happy I got round in one piece.”
Wiggins’s team mate Geraint Thomas, another Olympic rider, fared much better, clocking the fifth fastest time.
The 97th Tour started with 197 riders after Spain’s Xavier Florencio was sent home by his team for using a banned drug to cure back problems without telling the team doctor.
The first stage today takes the peloton from Rotterdam to Brussels over 223.5-km.
