2010 Tour de France: Prologue - Rotterdam 8.9 km

[genedan]

That was an incredible 33.18 mph for Spartacus.

 

[Chavez]

That was an incredible 33.18 mph for Spartacus.

My CAR doesn't go that fast.....

 

[Eldrack]

Interesting prologue all told. Cancellara won, no surprises there. Tony Martin came second, again no surprise. He must be ****** had to wait in the hot seat for three hours only for the second to last rider to beat him.

Those who went off early to avoid the bad weather... ended up with the worst weather. Sucks to be them. Wiggins was practically walking his bike round some of the corners which would explain why he lost so much time.

Armstrong obviously in top form but Contador not far behind. At that rate Contador is going to absolutely destroy everyone in the mountains. Given how much time the Schlecks and others lost on L.A. and A.C. they absolutely have to attack in the mountains now because they'll lose another minute or two (or three!) in the final time trial.

All in all Armstrong has shown he's looking good but Contador has confirmed himself as the out and out favourite with his performance today. Tomorrow could be interesting if its very windy and some of the teams will no doubt try something devious to win some time back.

 

[sopas]

Incredible!!!! Armstrong was faster than Contador!!!!!

How did Wiggins do?

 

[alienator]

Well, I think the results of a prologue are hardly confirmation of anything, no matter whether you're talking about the Schlecks, Contador, Stretch Armstrong, or anybody.

 

[Andrija]

Well, I think the results of a prologue are hardly confirmation of anything, no matter whether you're talking about the Schlecks, Contador, Stretch Armstrong, or anybody.

Maybe A.Schleck should have done better. Maybe he's still sore from that fall he had.
Armstrong was slightly better than I've expected.
Everything else as expected. No surprises.

 

[thebluetrain]

Will be interesting to see how Contador does on the Cobbles of Stage 3.

 

[limerickman]

Canc 33mph.

Phenomenal stuff from the man.

He's in a class of his own.

 

[roadhouse]

Armstrong obviously in top form but Contador not far behind. At that rate Contador is going to absolutely destroy everyone in the mountains. Given how much time the Schlecks and others lost on L.A. and A.C. they absolutely have to attack in the mountains now because they'll lose another minute or two (or three!) in the final time trial.

All in all Armstrong has shown he's looking good but Contador has confirmed himself as the out and out favourite with his performance today. Tomorrow could be interesting if its very windy and some of the teams will no doubt try something devious to win some time back.

you are mistaken my good man, Lance Armstrong will not be in top form for about another 3-7 days, his form is relatively decent at best right now.

 

[pennstater]

Well, I think the results of a prologue are hardly confirmation of anything, no matter whether you're talking about the Schlecks, Contador, Stretch Armstrong, or anybody.

Yes, of course it is a long race, but for some of the riders to lose that amount of time to LA was pretty surprising/impressive. Riders shaking their heads: Sastre losing 32 (actually not that bad), Basso -33, Menchov/Wiggins -34, F Schleck -35, A Schleck -48 after only an 8.9 kilometer prologue is pretty bad.

The riders need to be careful tomorrow. Should see some serious wind coming off the coast and and the riders will be using some of the same roads that were used on stage 3 of the 2010 Giro, which proved chaotic.

 

[Andrija]

Yes, of course it is a long race, but for some of the riders to lose that amount of time to LA was pretty surprising/impressive. Riders shaking their heads: Sastre losing 32 (actually not that bad), Basso -33, Menchov/Wiggins -34, F Schleck -35, A Schleck -48 after only an 8.9 kilometer prologue is pretty bad.

The riders need to be careful tomorrow. Should see some serious wind coming off the coast and and the riders will be using some of the same roads that were used on stage 3 of the 2010 Giro, which proved chaotic.

It's going to be very fast. Tailwind is predicted. Splits are possible.

 

[slovakguy]

might be interesting to force radioshack to take the yellow jersey just to make them defend it before the road starts going up. granted, armstrong's cheering section on versus will see their heads explode in ecstasy, but the other teams would have some interesting tactical choices to make.

 

[CdnRider]

nice start to the tdf IMO. Kept me excited while watching it till the end. too bad for those guys who went down and had blood dripping.

 

[steve]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-pXycnqm_4]YouTube - Tour De France'10 - Cancellara & Armstrong finish - Prologue Rotterdam*[/ame]

Prologue Results
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 0:10:00
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:10
3 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:20
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack 0:00:22
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:23
6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:00:27
7 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:28
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack
9 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:32
10 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram 0:00:35
...
14 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:35
17 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack 0:00:36
19 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:00:38
23 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39
25 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:40
70 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:40
72 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:55
74 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:00:56
77 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:56
79 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:57
92 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:00
122 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:09
140 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:01:13

 

[steve]

Great ride by Cancellara

The highlight for me was seeing the climbers time trial like climbers, Schleck's lost approx 1 minute, Basso 0.55, Cunego 1:13, Sastre 0:40. Contador even did the right thing and lost a hand full of seconds to the best time trialer of our time.

Menchov and Wiggins were very disappointing.

 

[No_Positives]

Has Armstrong already won his 8th Tour? Alpuerto better have the key to his refrigerator. And how about the Dreck brothers?? I did not think it was possible to lose the Tour in a short prologue, but they did.

 

[roadhouse]

yes, he has already won eight Tours. third podium after four years off is not saying a lot of the competition and is a victory.

 

[steve]

And how about the Dreck brothers?? I did not think it was possible to lose the Tour in a short prologue, but they did.

Their losses could be huge on stage 19, they're lucky there arn't the usual number of time trial km's this year.

 

[steve]

yes, he has already won eight Tours. third podium after four years off is not saying a lot of the competition and is a victory.

Eight tours?

 

[alienator]

Eight tours?

Apparently personal victories or things that your sycophants consider victories are now recognized as Tour victories.