2005 Tour de France - Stage 1

The Tour is on! The Tour is on!

I went out for a ride this morning and made it back in time to watch the first Stage time trial. American Zabriskie set a blistering ride early on and nobody could come within a whole minute of it. Over the course of the two hour coverage we saw all the big tour tt guys take a crack and come up short... way short.

The drama only increased as Basso, Ullrich and Armstrong left the gates. At the first slit we heard that Ullrich was some 40 seconds behind Zabriskie. There was this sense that Zabriskie was untouchable.

But Lance's first split was within three seconds. His second split was ahead! It was amazing to watch. All the contenders took their crack and came nowhere close. Lance was on top of it. He ended up taking 2nd, by 2 seconds... two seconds likely lost when his foot came out of his pedal right after the start. Heather and I debated whether something like that really slowed him down or got him fired up. Either way, his mechanic owes him a beer at the end of the Tour.

Lance had Ullrich, his arch-nemesis, one minute ahead on the TT. He caught him! Ullrich got caught. Amazing.

Big statement from Lance today. He still rules the roost and is ready to leave the sport in a commanding manner.

Inspirational to watch.

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