2004 Tour de France Prologue

Today kicks off the 2004 Tour de France with the prologue stage.

There are two classifications of stages: race and time trial.

Races are what you traditionally think of... a bunch of riders who leave the starting line at the same time, group together for a number of hours and then try to cross the finish line first. Races engage team play as the nine members of each team embark on breakaways and defense of their main dude. Races are generally 4 - 6 hours in length.

Time trials (TTs) are individual efforts. Riders are sent onto the course at three minute intervals. They can't draft. They can't hide. The French call it the Race of Truth. A true measure of your fitness. No team to defend you. Time trials are generally 20 - 60 minutes in length.

The Tour is a combination of race and TT stages. Many more race stages.

Now, within the race stages you have two main types of stages: flats and mountains. It's tough for somebody to break away on the flats because the peleton can take advantage of its built-in aerodynamics and track you down. Flat stages favor the sprinters... guys who "sit on" their team for six hours and then explode in a sprint against everybody else on the final 200-300 meters. The key to flat stages is that while one person does win, everybody else is generally within one or two seconds from him. Flat stages don't generally shake things up much in the general classification (GC). Crosswinds on flat stages can offer that shakeup however if teams are caught off-guard. Mountain stages find riders breaking away more. As speeds drop, the advantage of aerodynamic drafting decreases and you're back to more of an individual effort. This is where Iban Mayo, Lance Armstrong and others shine. They make attacks at each other and hope to create a psychological and real advantage. They use their team members to tire the competition out and to pace themselves. Mountain stages go into the Pyrenees and the Alps on the Tour. The first real mountain stages in this Tour don't happen until a full 10 days into the race.

Time trials have a similar breakdown into flat and mountain. This year there is a dramatic mountain TT up L'Alp d'Huez, a massive climb.

It's less than 23 minutes until live coverage begins... and only a couple of hours until the race begins.

Lance will roll off last in today's TT. This is a position of honor given to him because he was last year's winner. Riders leave in reverse-seed order. This gives top seeds an advantage because they see what their competition has done on the course.

Team directors drive their cars behind their riders and are connected via radio at all times to give split data and encouragement.

Today's prologue stage is a short stage of only a few miles. Riders will be going all-out... heart rate out the yin yang. It's the first chance to see them on the Tour. Keep in mind that they still have a couple of weeks to get into shape while riding the early flat stages. These stages are by no means simple, but for experienced teams they're low-risk as compared to the final week of climbing.

The prologue begins 11:30AM EST@!

Can you tell I'm getting excited?!?!

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