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Londres
7.9 km
Saturday 7 July
Fabian Cancellara repeated his effort from 2004 by winning the prologue and taking the first yellow jersey. It seemed that no one would be able to match the effort of Andreas Kloden who was the 150th rider to start the 7.9km race and blitz the course in 9’03”... but it was the third last man out of the start house who proved his dominance in the discipline that he is the reigning world champion. The Swiss CSC rider averaged 53.7km/h and became the only man to break the nine minute mark with a time of 8’50”740! It was 13” better than Kloden and 23” faster than last year’s prologue runner-up, George Hincapie.
Fine conditions greeted the opening day of the 94th Tour de France. The first of the 189 riders to start was Degano (BAR) who began the 7.9km time trial at 3.00pm. The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone joined the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe and Tour director Christian Pruhomme to signal the official start of the 2007 race.
The first rider to finish with an average speed over 50km/h was Bonnet (C.A). He led until Astarloza (EUS) finished. One incident during the early phase was a crash by O’Grady (CSC); he was the 40th rider to start and he led at the first check but then clipped a barrier with his pedal on a turn, forcing him to lose control of his bike and crash heavily. The next men to set the standard were Zabriskie (CSC), Karpets (GCE), Gusev (DSC)... but it was Kloden (AST) who really set the course alight with a phenomenal ride. At the 4.5km mark he was eight seconds better than his rivals. Not even local knowledge could help Bradley Wiggins who finished the time trial 10” slower than Kloden and 23” behind the world champion, Fabian Cancellara.
At 7.9km it was a fairly long prologue course but it took in some of London’s most famous landmarks. The crowds were out in force to cheer on the local stars, Wiggins and David Millar. But neither had an answer to the power of Cancellara who finished the race in the third fastest average speed for a prologue in the history of the Tour. Only Chris Boardman’s 55.152km/h on the 7.2km course in Lille (in 1994) and 54.193km/h on the 5.6km Dublin course (in 1998) are faster than what the time trial world champion achieved today.
The man driving the car behind the prologue winner hatched a plan that dictated that the winning time should be under nine minutes. Alain Gallopin explains how Fabian Cancellara executed the tactics well, going so fast that he almost ran into the back of the lead-out motorcycles.
“Kim Anderson told me that normally, in this situation, Fabian is going to win. He likes this kind of ‘parcours’ and he’s also faster through the turns than everybody else. I had on my plan that eight minutes 50 seconds would be around the time he needed if he was going to win. We knew after just two kilometers that he was good enough for that and that he was going to win.
“In the beginning he took a few risks, of course… but in the end he didn’t take any gambles. We saw that he was going faster than the motorbikes and that was a cause for concern. After the crash of Stuart [O’Grady] we were not so relaxed in the car but Fabian is a quality rider and he handled the course perfectly.”
On a day when British riders Bradley Wiggins and David Millar were expected to shine, the Swiss time trial world champion proved why he’s wearing the rainbow colours in 2007. Fabian Cancellara is a master in the race against the clock and he dominated the prologue in London.
“Before I’ve had a situation where everybody was looking at me and saying I was the big favorite and it’s been hard to handle. But this year I learned to use the pressure to my advantage. It was perhaps even more stressful for the English riders: we are in London and as we’ve seen the popularity of the event is huge. We’ve seen that today. There are a lot of people from many different countries here to watch and this has been a beautiful expose for cycling.
“For the British riders, I’m sorry but it’s a Swiss day and I hope it’s the same again tomorrow for Roger Federer.
“I talked to Kim Anderson and Alain Gallopin and we agreed that I had to stay under nine minutes. It was the right intention and I’m happy that I was able to do just that. It’s a very important opening. For me, it’s a great thing. We are in London, I have the yellow jersey and I got that while wearing the world champion’s jersey.
“I’ve shown already in the Tour de Suisse that I’m in good shape and I will do the maximum to keep this jersey for as long as I can.”
Fabian Cancellara has won the London prologue. He raced the 7.9km course at an average speed of 53.7km/h and beat his nearest rival by 13". He is the first rider born in the 1980s to have won a stage of the Tour de France, that was on the opening day of the 2004 race. Now he’s back in yellow.
Fabian Cancellara is the only man able to beat Kloden’s time. The current top five - with just two riders to finish is: 1. Fabian Cancellara 8’50"740; 2. Kloden at 13"; 3. Hincapie at 23"; 4. Wiggins at 23"; 5. Gusev at 25".
Cancellara has smashed Kloden’s time by 13". The world champion is destined to win the prologue and take the yellow jersey.
Cancellara is going so fast that he almost caught up with two leading motorbikes. He is destined to win the prologue for a second time; the yellow jersey will replace the rainbow jersey.
Cancellara looks like he’ll repeat his effort from 2004: he has posted the best time of the day at the 4.5km mark. The world champion is seven seconds faster than Kloden.
