Americans take 1, 2 in Stage One
Today is the start of the 2005 Tour de France. The Editor is a HUGE fan.
This year's Tour started out different than usual In any other year, today would be the prologue - a short 8-12 minute time trial - to determine who wears the maillot jeune for Stage One. Well, that's not how it began this year. Today was a 19km (still short, but not as short as a prologue) time trial that counts against the overall classification.
Of the 2 Americans finishing on top today was, of course, Lance Armstrong... BUT he took second. 1st went to David Zabriskie, finishing 2 seconds ahead of LA. That in itself is a big story for the young rider in his first TdF. He'll be wearing the Yellow Jersey to start stage 2 (and a huge smile) as well as have a stage win under his belt.
Still, what might be an even bigger story at the moment is that LA already has a 1:05 lead on last year's, and 5-time, runner up - Jan Ullrich. Jan might not be his biggest competition (updated) this year, but that's big. Actually, LA's biggest competition any year is probably himself.
Anyway, it was an exciting beginning to the 2005 TdF. This one should be good - they ride hard from the start.
UPDATE: BTW, Americans took 4 of the top 10 spots in Stage One. SWEEEEEEET!
UPDATE II: Velonews finally has their story up. Look at that. Wow- the Maillot Jeune for Zabriskie.
UPDATE III: ESPN calls Stage One a prologue on their frontpage... Amatures!
This year's Tour started out different than usual In any other year, today would be the prologue - a short 8-12 minute time trial - to determine who wears the maillot jeune for Stage One. Well, that's not how it began this year. Today was a 19km (still short, but not as short as a prologue) time trial that counts against the overall classification.
Of the 2 Americans finishing on top today was, of course, Lance Armstrong... BUT he took second. 1st went to David Zabriskie, finishing 2 seconds ahead of LA. That in itself is a big story for the young rider in his first TdF. He'll be wearing the Yellow Jersey to start stage 2 (and a huge smile) as well as have a stage win under his belt.
Still, what might be an even bigger story at the moment is that LA already has a 1:05 lead on last year's, and 5-time, runner up - Jan Ullrich. Jan might not be his biggest competition (updated) this year, but that's big. Actually, LA's biggest competition any year is probably himself.
Anyway, it was an exciting beginning to the 2005 TdF. This one should be good - they ride hard from the start.
UPDATE: BTW, Americans took 4 of the top 10 spots in Stage One. SWEEEEEEET!
UPDATE II: Velonews finally has their story up. Look at that. Wow- the Maillot Jeune for Zabriskie.
UPDATE III: ESPN calls Stage One a prologue on their frontpage... Amatures!
Luckily, they refrain from doing so in their story.Prologue To A Dream?Lance Armstrong clearly covets a seventh straight Tour de France. In Saturday's prologue, he finished two seconds behind time-trial winner Dave Zabriskie on a banner day for Americans.
posted by Editor at 10:25 AM
<< Home