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96th Tour de France

Stage 1 - Monaco ITT - 15.5 km (9.6 mi)

04 July 2009

START TIMES FOR ALL RIDERS IN THE STAGE 1 TIME TRIAL

The pre-race news centered around the return of Tom Boonen to the peloton. After winning his third Paris-Roubaix in April, he tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test after a wild night of celebrating his cobblestone dominance. His second positive test for cocaine in less than twelve months -- he chose the same method of celebration after his 2008 Paris-Roubaix win -- very nearly saw him missing out on the Tour yet again, as race organizer Amaury Sport Organization set out to exclude him from the start list for a second straight year.

But in an improbable victory, the French Court of Arbitration for sport ruled in his favor on Friday. You see, cocaine is not sanctioned when it appears in out-of-competition testing. The UCI was not going to sanction him; he received no suspension other than from his own team. It was race organizer ASO that wanted to keep him away. But because his sport didn't sanction him, the court ruled that a race couldn't discriminate if the rider was eligible under UCI rules. It isn't as though cocaine has any benefits to a cyclist in training. Hell, the performance-enhancing effects IN competition have been largely debunked. The losses of cognitive function more than offset the accelerant properties.

Frankly, I'm stoked to see him back in the race. The return of the 2007 Tour green jersey winner will make the sprint competition much more interesting, providing the best challenge to Cavendish of any other rider. While other former winners -- Thor Hushovd, Oscar Freire, Robbie McEwen -- are getting up there in years, Boonen is still a rider in his prime who has the potential to make life hard for the Manxman. So Allan Davis is gone from the Quick Step squad, replaced by Boonen, and the 180 riders are all set for the biggest event of the cycling season.

But it was another former Paris-Roubaix winner who stood tallest in this race against the clock. Ultimately it would be Fabian Cancellara who left 179 guys looking absurdly slow as he dominated the 15.5-kilometer course through the principality of Monaco. Pre-Tour favorite and 2007 champion Alberto Contador, returning to the race after a year's absence, was closest to the Swiss rider who is the defending Olympic champion in the discipline and a two-time world champion to boot. For Cancellara, this will mark the third time he's taken the yellow jersey after Stage 1, following his prologue wins in Liege in 2004 and London in 2007.

Thus, when Kenny Van Hummel left the start gate at 4:00 PM local time in Monaco, he set what is sure to be an intriguing 2009 Tour de France into progress. Oftentimes the early riders on the course are merely pacesetters for their leaders who will follow later, but one rider who set off just seventeen minutes after Van Hummel is no mere time check. Lance Armstrong, returned after four years away from this race, took the early start time in hopes of pulling off a victory before conditions change on course. This tactic is what allowed David Zabriskie to surpass the seven-time champion in his last race back in 2005, when the American time-trial specialist bested Lance in Noirmoutier to claim the first yellow of that year's race.

The strategy paid off early, with Armstrong finishing over half a minute up on the nearest early challenger. His final time of 20:12.35, which actually marked a decrease in time gains from his halfway-point check (when he was 22 seconds up), is nonetheless an impressive benchmark for all the riders who follow. It should prove, while not the winning time itself, at least a time worthy of a high general classification slot ahead of the first road stage tomorrow.

Why not the winning time? Because Tony Martin, the German on Columbia riding in his first Tour de France, caught the rider ahead of him before even the intermediate time check to pip Lance's time by seven seconds and take the lead on the road. His time, though, would not stand long, as Armstrong's Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer once again put an American atop the standings with a ride three seconds better than Martin's.

Now that the times were falling, Leipheimer had to sit back and wait to see if his would remain as the best. The first stern test came from former world time-trial champion David Millar of Garmin-Slipstream; but when the British rider went past the time set by Leipheimer and still had several hundred meters to go, a sign of relief arose from the Astana camp. Levi was still in first, but there was still no guarantee that it would stick by the final rider.

A half hour after reaching the finish, though, Leipheimer was still staring at the yellow jersey. Bernhard Eisel couldn't best the time, nor could current world time-trial champion Bert Grabsch, who finished more than a minute down on the best times of the day. The challenges of this course, with its climb up the Moyenne Corniche and technical twists and turns, don't ideally suit those who are the true specialists of the time-trial discipline. There simply isn't enough space in which to wind up the motor and really get to cruising speed. At this point, the ten-mile course has the top ten riders separated by forty-five seconds, an absurd amount of time for a short time trial just above prologue distance. Not even Jens Voigt, the veteran diesel engine for Saxo Bank, could come close to the top time by Levi.

Riders kept coming and going, but the results at the top remained the same. Frank Schleck, who will be working for little brother Andy as Saxo Bank tries to win their second Tour in a row despite having lost last year's winner to Cervelo, finished over a minute down. Time trial rider Marzio Bruseghin couldn't pull off the feat, either. And two other American hopefuls, George Hincapie of Columbia and national time-trial champion Dave Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream, took the course twenty minutes apart with hopes of knocking their compatriot out of the maillot jaune.

Roman Kreuziger, one of the young dark-horses in the race, exhibited some good form in blowing right past his one-minute marker over top of the Cote de Beausoleil and stopping the clock at the midway checkpoint just milliseconds behind Leipheimer's pace. The 23-year-old Czech rider on the Liquigas squad could certainly be a revelation of this race, and might just give Andy Schleck some fits in the race for the white jersey for the best rider under 26 years of age.

The finish was close, with Kreuziger punching it through the last kilometer. It appeared at first that the Czech rider was about to surpass the Astana lieutenant, but then the clock stopped a second and a half short. Leipheimer had survived the sternest test to his lead yet, and Kreuziger slotted into second ahead of Tony Martin and Lance Armstrong, who was now looking at possibly losing his top-five status in the opening stage in what can still be characterized as a successful return

Zabriskie, too, failed to better Leipheimer's time. Seventeen seconds in arrears, the American national time-trial champion crossed the line to take sixth place for the moment. But with yet another Astana rider on the road blistering the pace, it looked like it might be Leipheimer's teammate Andreas Kloden who could take over the top time. As Kloden neared the finish, young Andy Schleck -- one of the key components of Bjarne Riis' squad and a pre-race favorite for the title -- took to the road. Schleck pushed off from the gate as Kloden stopped the clock eight seconds ahead of Levi.

So Kloden, who has twice finished on the podium in Paris (taking second place in 2004 and 2006), has relegated his teammates Leipheimer and Armstrong a slot down in the standings. While many assumed an Astana rider would be wearing yellow at the end of today's stage, few expected it might be Kloden who would don the garment. Only Alberto Contador could potentially change that scenario amongst the squad, when he sets off a half-hour after Kloden's superb line-crossing. But not even Kloden's time was safe, as Leipheimer could attest, and with dominant specialists like Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins still to come, it was the German's time to sweat out the results.

Neither Hincapie nor Christian Vande Velde could put the Americans back atop the standings. Andy Schleck put in a solid ride as the Saxo Bank team leader, thirteenth best at the time of crossing and just three seconds behind Vande Velde. With his mountain prowess, Schleck is positioning himself superbly for a run at more than just another white jersey. The Luxembourger might just resurrect visions of Charly Gaul in the Alps and Pyrenees if he can maintain this form.

And then the biggest guns of the contenders took to the road. Time-trial greats Cancellara and Wiggins sandwiched GC hopeful and 2009 Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov on course. Right behind them, Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre all waited for their start. Any of these six could easily challenge Kloden's pace. It was Contador who drew first blood, passing Tony Martin's top checkpoint time by five full seconds to at least be in position to wear the polka-dots into Stage 2 even if the yellow is not his. But the pace appeared as though that wouldn't be a question.

As Contador topped the checkpoint, Bradley Wiggins passed Kloden. Longtime German leader Kloden was surpassed by the British rider better known for his Olympic track cycling gold medals. The time now two seconds leaner, all the favorites had a new mark for which to aim. That mark, though, would not stand long, as the Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara dominated the lower half of the course to put nineteen full seconds into Wiggins' time. With such a mark, Contador would be forced to settle for the polka-dots of the King of the Mountains leader. He slotted into second, ahead of Wiggins. With two riders left on the road, it was highly unlikely that the time of the Swiss dynamo would fall.

Indeed it didn't. Neither Sastre nor Evans could surpass even Kloden; Evans would settle for fifth on the day, Sastre all the way down in 21st. Lance Armstrong, after putting up what looked like a strong early time, was passed by nine other riders. For a 37-year-old rider who hasn't spent three weeks in July traipsing across France since 2005, Armstrong definitely didn't humiliate by his effort. Contador set himself up most soundly of the GC contenders, taking time out of all other challengers while donning his newly-earned Spanish national time-trial champion's kit. But today was Cancellara's time to shine, and the beginning of a Tour which should affirm that Sastre needed Saxo Bank far more than Saxo Bank needed Sastre...

RESULTS - STAGE 1

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) 19:32
2. Alberto Contador (Astana) +0:18
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) +0:19
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana) +0:22
5. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) +0:23
6. Levi Leipheimer (Astana) +0:30
7. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) +0:32
8. Tony Martin (Columbia) +0:33
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:37
10. Lance Armstrong (Astana) +0:40

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) 15
2. Alberto Contador (Astana)12
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) 10
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana) 8
5. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) 6
6. Levi Leipheimer (Astana) 5
7. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) 4
8. Tony Martin (Columbia) 3
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) 2
10. Lance Armstrong (Astana) 1

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

1. Alberto Contador (Astana) 3
2. Tony Martin (Columbia) 2
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) 1

BEST YOUNG RIDER

1. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) 20:04
2. Tony Martin (Columbia) +0:01
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:05
4. Jerome Coppel (Francaise des Jeux) +0:19
5. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +0:28