A strong start for Armstrong

By John Wilcockson

No one really knew what to expect when Lance Armstrong sped down the starting ramp alongside the harbor in Monte Carlo Saturday afternoon to begin his first Tour de France in four years. He wasn’t expecting to win Saturday’s 15.5km time trial, and that attitude was reflected in his steady start and solid finish to end the day in 10th place.

It was an excellent result for the seven-time champion because it showed he is on a par with most of the Tour’s other GC contenders — and well ahead of several others. The only true pretenders to the 2009 crown to finish ahead of him were his teammates Alberto Contador (by 22 seconds) and Levi Leipheimer (by 10 seconds), along with Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans (17 seconds faster).

The list of contenders behind Armstrong included Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde (17 seconds back), Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck (20 seconds behind), Cervélo’s defending champion Carlos Sastre (26 seconds slower) and Columbia-HTC’s Mick Rogers (33 seconds behind). Rogers would have been closer, but he had to stop 3km into climbing the opening hill when his chain came off, costing him about half a minute.

Armstrong was even farther ahead of two riders who had even been tipped to win the race: Rabobank’s Giro d’Italia winner Denis Menchov conceded 51 seconds to the Texan and Columbia-HTC’s Kim Kirchen finished 1:17 behind him.

But let’s get back to Armstrong’s ride. He and Leipheimer raced in the hottest part of the day when the mercury was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, while the temperature dropped about 10 degrees over three hours before Evans, Contador and Saxo Bank’s stage winner Fabian Cancellara did their time trials.

Those cooler conditions combined with a breeze that picked up, and helped the later starters over the final 4km, probably cost Armstrong (and Leipheimer) about 10 seconds.

The media scrum that greeted Armstrong after he finished the stage was as big, if not bigger, than it was in his record-breaking run prior to his retirement in 2005. And contrary to those news outlets that have claimed he has boycotted the press, Armstrong spoke with a bevy of film crews and journalists after he had warmed down on Saturday; and he recorded a video for the LiveStrong Web site on his way back to the hotel.

The Astana team’s strength looks even more impressive when you consider that it had four men in the top 10 Saturday, and it already leads the team race by 31 seconds over Saxo Bank, 44 seconds on Garmin-Slipstream, 1:25 over Liquigas, and 1:46 over Columbia-HTC. Those five teams will likely dominate the team time trial in Montpellier on Tuesday — with Astana now the odds-on favorite to win stage 4.

Considering its collective performance Saturday, the Astana squad could well have the top four riders on GC by Tuesday night with Contador, Andreas Klöden, Leipheimer and Armstrong.

And should the Texan remain high on the overall standings through the Pyrénées next weekend, those media scrums can only get more frenzied.

Follow John Wilcockson’s twitter at twitter.com/johnwilcockson, or via his latest book’s Web site www.lancearmstrongbook.com.

FILED UNDER: News / Road / Tour de France TAGS: Tour de France