[Le Tour 2003]Prologue - The Streets of Paris

[Tour Reporter]

Prologue - Individual Time Trial - Paris 6.5 km

At the base of the Eiffel Tour, narrow machines are firing out of a
start house and cover the cobbled and paved roads of Paris.  Crowds jam
the barriers on this rare opportunity to see the riders before they head
out for the first road stage.

Haimar Zubeldia from Euskatel-Euskadi has hammered through the finish
straight at 7:28 and some change, which has him nearly 9 seconds ahead
of the nearest rider - a rather large gap considering the short distance
of the circuit.

Victor Hugo Pena rolls through at 7:32 - not enough to shake up the
leader, but placing himself nicely near the front. The top three riders'
positions from each team are used to determine the team standings, which
will be extremely important in the upcoming Team Time Trial.  Certainly,
the importance of starting last and getting necessary split times cannot
be overestimated.

Despite plans to win, Michael Roders from QuckStep-Davitamon has turned
in a rather lackluster time. Whether unsure in his first Tour or just a
bad ride, he is still the strongest looking youngest rider.

Aitor Gonzalez from Fasso Bortolo rolls over the line at about 7:50, not
stressing things too terribly much.  He has made a strong effort, but
his engine looks to be tuned more toward longer stages.

Vlatchislav Ekimov drives smoothly through the line and notches into
third within five seconds of the leader - another fine finish for the
USPostal Service.

New poppa and celeste wearing Jan Ullrich rolls out of the start house.
   He looks decidedly lean and mean.

Meanwhile, the first of the important stuff hits the airways - the first
Bob Roll "Tour DAY France" commercial....

Ullrich has gone through the mid-course time check one second ahead of
the top time. Looks like he's riding lean and mean as well. He is
running extremely strong down the final straight - and he punches ahead
into the lead with by one fifth of a second.  Slow motion replay shows
frightening amounts of muscles contracting in his thighs.

Bradley McGee from FDJ.com has pushed through the time check with a
"good time" as the cameras stick with David Millar from Cofidis and
Tyler Hamilton from CSC-Tiscali.

The big dogs are starting to run, as the reigning world time trial champ
Santiago Botero moves a bit tentatively away from the start.  On course,
Millar has torched the best time - going through the midcourse time
check  a full five seconds ahead of Ullrich.

7:26 for Mcgee - that puts him into the lead, but Millar his torching up
the course.

7:32 for Tyler -

We come back from a commercial break to find David Millar reaching down
to put his chain back onto the front chainring and try to make the line
in time - no! He finishes at 7:26.95 - dropping into second place.

7:35.09 for Botero.

7:35.32 for Beloki.

Armstrong had passed through the time check at 9 seconds behind Millar's
time. Now, he hammers for the line to finish at 7:34. That puts Bradley
McGee into the first yellow jersey for the 2003 Tour de France - an
Australian rider on a French team.

Pena and Ekimov efforts combine with Armstrong to put three men in the
top 10.

Prologue -
1 - Brad McGee - 7:26
2 - David Millar - s.t.
3 - Hamair Zubeldia - @ :02
4 - Jan Ullrich - @ :02
5 - Victor Hugo Pena - @ :06
6 - Tyler Hamilton - @ :06
7 - Lance Armstrong - @ :07
8 - Joseba Beloki - @ :09
9 - Santiago Botero - @ :09
10 - Vlatchislav Ekimov - @:11


Tomorrow:
Stage 1 - Saint-Denis/Motgeron - Meaux - 168 km

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