Powerful Swiss rider steals race's spotlight
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By JULIET MACUR The New York Times - Published: July 5, 2009
MONACO — After four years away from the Tour de France, a race that made him a cycling legend, Lance Armstrong looked around Saturday and did not recognize the place.
"It's almost like a foreign environment," said Armstrong, who raced his first Tour miles since 2005 here, in the first stage of this year's Tour.
Armstrong, 37, won the Tour seven times before retiring in 2005, but said he felt slightly off Sunday during the opening 9.6-mile individual time trial that snaked through the roads of this principality. He said that his position on the bike felt uncomfortable and his skin suit felt uncomfortable. He finished 10th, with a time of 20 minutes 12 seconds, 40 seconds behind the Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, who finished in 19:32 to crush the field by 18 seconds.
Armstrong's teammate and team leader, Alberto Contador, finished second, keeping him in the Astana team leader's jersey for another day.
"It was difficult, difficult for everybody today," Armstrong said. "It was very technical and hard to find a rhythm. I felt pretty good, but I was a little bit all over the place."
While the focus before the race had been on which rider would lead the Astana team, Cancellara did his best to steal the attention Saturday.
Cancellara already stands out. At 6 feet 1 1/2 inches and about 176 pounds, he looks like a linebacker on his bike, compared with most other riders. His tree-trunk legs look more suited to football than cycling. His burly upper arms look twice the size of other riders' arms.
In the time trial, when size usually means power, Cancellara — the 2008 Olympic time-trial champion — has an advantage. And he showed it Saturday. He was the fourth-to-last rider to compete and had to wait three hours for his turn on the course, which was slippery from the humidity.
When Cancellara finally headed to the start, far down below the Palace of Monaco, it was worth the wait, at least for the fans by the roadside. He rode aggressively, but smoothly, as if he were cruising to the store — not racing against the best riders in the world. He rode along Avenue Princesse Grace without breaking a sweat. He climbed the windy, undulating roads cut into the cliffs as if no pain were involved. He easily sped along the route that hugged the Mediterranean so closely that riders could hear waves lapping the shore.
Coming toward the finish line, he looked like an unstoppable freight train, but he soon turned mushy. After climbing from his bike, he gave a goofy bear hug to his Saxo Bank team manager, Bjarne Riis. He turned to clasp hands with Contador, who flashed Cancellara a wide smile.
On the podium, Cancellara slipped a giant yellow jersey over his head and pumped his arms. Prince Albert II of Monaco shook his hand and congratulated him.
"I don't want to give the yellow jersey back; I want to keep it for a long time, like seven days, but a lot could happen," Cancellara said. "It's a special moment. I'm very proud to show that I could win it and be one of the favorites."
Later, a reporter pointed out that Cancellara had raced against Armstrong in a time trial in 2005, Armstrong's final year before retirement. That year, the reporter said, Armstrong had beaten Cancellara by more than a minute. This time, it was nearly the other way around.
Cancellara took a few seconds to consider those facts before responding.
"I'm the strongest time-trial rider for the last couple of years, I think," he said. "I think, maybe in five years, other riders will come and they will be faster than me. That's cycling. That's time. I also get older."
For Armstrong, who is 11 years older than his teammate Contador, aging has not meant much. He said he still felt physically as strong as he did in some years he won the Tour.
"I didn't have any illusions," Armstrong said of the possibility he would win this stage, "which is logical given I've been four years away."
NYT-07-04-09 1823EDT
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