Armstrong grabs yellow jersey
Double Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has stamped his mark on the opening day of the Tour de Suisse. He won the 7.9 kilometre prologue race in Rust, Germany, in a time of 9 minutes and 44 seconds.
He was followed home in the time trial by France’s Laurent Jalabert (5.13 seconds behind) and Armstrong’s compatriot and teammate, Tyler Hamilton (5.26 seconds).
The highest placed Swiss rider was Beat Zberg, who finished in fifth place, seven seconds behind Armstrong.
Switzerland’s Oscar Camenzind, who is defending his Tour de Suisse title, has some catching up to do after coming in 38th, almost 25 seconds behind the early race leader.
“It’s good to be back,” announced Armstrong, who has not raced the Tour de Suisse for a number of years. “To win a time trial you can’t be weak. Mentally I’m focused and physically I’m there.”
Asked whether his US Postal Team would be defending his lead on Tuesday, he added: “I don’t know. We will have to talk about that. Ten days is a long race and you don’t need to start defending from day one.”
Tuesday’s time trial was the first time Switzerland’s most prestigious cycling race had got underway on foreign soil. The riders started the Tour de Suisse at the Europapark funfair just across the Swiss-German border in Rust.
The riders will return to regular pack racing on Wednesday when the Tour makes its belated entry into Switzerland, with a 179-kilometre stage from Rust to Basel.
Over the 10 days of the Tour, the cyclists are set to travel a total of 1,427 kilometres, including daunting climbs through the Gotthard and Nufenen passes and up to Crans-Montana.
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