1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 8.17.00 (51.43 km/h)
2 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 0.00.73
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 0.04.21
4 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.04.80
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.04.92
6 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.04.93
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 0.06.30
8 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 0.08.02
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 0.09.26
10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.10.09
11 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) T-Mobile 0.10.11
12 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step-Innergetic 0.11.21
13 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 0.12.33
14 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 0.13.24
15 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 0.13.73
16 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis 0.13.88
17 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval 0.14.65
18 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak 0.14.89
19 Christopher Horner (USA) Davitamon-Lotto 0.15.61
20 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) Phonak 0.16.03

forget the performance of the Americans, 3 1/2 Australians in the top 20!

ya he missed by 1 second + his late start deficit, velonews changed the numbers after its initial call of his time

So I guess this means Miller IS clean

is there anywhere on the web i can see video clips of the Prologue?

eurosport.oln website might have it too

I really wanted Hincapie to win it but it was great to watch it. This is the first time I get to see Le Tour. It was very cool. And I was stunned to see that Landis started late. What's up with that? Very odd.

Hincapie made a statement to the rest of Discovery that he's the man to back. And to the rest of the field that he's the man to be worried about.

and anyone want to guess where Floyd was for his start?

From velonews: "Phonak officials reportedly spotted a cut on Landis's rear tire and pulled him out of the start house to change the wheel, hoping to avoid a flat, which would have lost the American even more time."

I'm surprised Levi allowed himself to be back as far as he is.
I think Valverde's definitely the ring leader and is gonna be a handful on the climbs.

Why should we "forget the performance of the Americans"? 3 in the top 9, 4 in the top 19, & 2 better than your first guy seems better to me. I love Aussie pride and I've enjoyed my trips down there but your comment is a bit disrespectful.

More about Floyd from Velo News. Given the tire problem, hurried and tardy start, and the short course requiring accelerations, I believe Floyd's performance is the most impressive. I wonder how the tire got cut? French perfidy knows no bounds!!!!

https://www.velonews.com/tour2006/det...s/10191.0.html

In fact were it not for some pre-race drama, American Floyd Landis might well have taken the opening day win. Instead the Phonak rider ended up ninth at nine seconds back, after a slice in his tire caused him to arrive late for his starting time.

"You can't take the risk to go," explained Phonak team director John Lelangue who ordered his star rider's wheel changed before he started the prologue. "If you explode in a curve you lose the Tour de France. You don't take this kind of risk. If you are a time trialist and this is your big focus, maybe, but if not, you don't take the risk. I think it was easier for everybody to not take the risk. Of course it was a big stress for Floyd just before the start, but he did really good and was able to concentrate after that. After one kilometer he was fine."

Following the stage, Landis spent 10 minutes cooling down in the team bus, then pulled a white T-shirt over his jersey and darted away on a bike without talking to reporters. But Landis's personal trainer Allan Lim was pleased with his No. 1 client's effort.

"There's no doubt he's riding really well," said Lim. "A prologue of this distance isn't a great distance for Floyd. He's a better long time trial trialist. Today was a technical course with some hard corners where you really had to put down some fast accelerations. That can be difficult for a guy like Floyd who has a bigger, more steady-state engine."

And 1 Norwegian in the top 1!
Thor said to Norwegian media today that he considers the victory a successful chess move. The stage is very technical, and it's very important to know the stage by heart. "If you manage to always keep the ideal line you'll keep a higher speed out of the turns, and I am particularly pleased with the way I managed to tackle the turns", Thor says (my poor translation, sorry). So as a part of his preparations, he biked through the stage three times this morning prior to the race.

One of his goals this year was to win at least one stage (which he didn't last year when he took the green jersey, a sad fact that McEwen was very good at pointing out, repeatedly). I think it's great that he fulfilled his goal already on the first day, and that he'll start tomorrow with the yellow jersey.

Erling.

congrats to him! Seems like a very smart way to prepare. Is it common for riders to run the course 3 times? once?

...not to mention his praying mantis form on the bike - he's essentially steering with the tips of his elbows. He was fast today.

[QUOTE=Kris Flatlander]Thor Hushovd for yellow early, {/QUOTE]

I'm gonna pull a "classic1" and also politely mention how I picked Hushovd for the win. Gotta love a fellow Norwegian, so what if I'm only 1/4~! haha.

Go Flyod!

It must have ben difficult for you visiting out here because you don't seem to get Aussie humour.

Careful, Classic, we don't want them over here 'Liberating' us from a dictatorship as well!...oh, I forgot...we have no oil!

Hitchy,

Don't dis the 'mericans.

What if they want your uranium

not a problem, I think little johnny sold it all to the Chinese!....or was that natural gas?....either way...we got nuffin left the seppo's want...ceptin' good bike riders, they got none of dem! (dontcha love flame wars?)

I was watching sportscenter this morning...nothing about le tour de france...
shame...