Astana's Alberto Contador shot to another victory today in the Critérium du Dauphiné's opening 6.8 kilometer prologue with a time of 8 minutes and 34 seconds. The Spaniard's efforts also secured him the first leader's jersey of the race. Just 2 seconds behind Contador was young American talent Tejay Van Garderen, who continued to show his massive potential riding for the HTC-Columbia team. RadioShack's Janez Brajkovic put in a solid time just 5 seconds off the pace in third place.
Before the race Contador said he wasn't going to pressure himself for the victory, but rather wanted to test his equipment in preparation for his major objective, the Tour de France.
"On paper the first two stages are destined for the sprinters, so we will just have to see what happens," said Astana's team manager Yvon Sanquer.
"But we can't deny this is a really satisfying result for us, and for Alberto. He was really concentrated on this prologue, and his performance simply confirms all the hard work he's put in improving this aspect of his racing."
A total of 175 riders took to the short course in the town of Évian-les-Bains. Straight out of the box the riders faced the 483 meter rise of the Chemin de Chez Constantin which dominated the first 2.8 kilometers. The route then leveled off for just over a kilometer and a half and plunged down to the finish line.
Brajkovic set the best mark initially, but after the majority of the riders took their start, the 21 year old Van Garderen pulled off the big surprise of the day to assume the best time. It wasn't good enough to hold up to the Spanish time trial champion who, while testing out his new time trial machine and beating the threatening clouds, set the fastest intermediate time and followed it up by powering to the win.
Tomorrow's 191 kilometer stage to Saint-Laurent-du-Pont will be the second longest of this year's Critérium du Dauphiné and is expected to finish in a sprint. With just seconds separating the top spots, Contador may look to give away the responsibility of race leader to save his team's energy. The defending Tour de France champion is likely keep his focus towards the time trial and hunt down the jersey again in the mountain stages.
Critérium du Dauphiné prologue results and overall standings:
1. Alberto Contador (ESP/Astana) 8min 34sec
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) at 02s,
3. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 5
4. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 10
5. Dario Cataldo (ITA/QST) 12
6. Remi Pauriol (FRA/COF) s.t.
7. Adriano Malori (ITA/LAM) s.t.
8. Patrick Gretsch (GER/THR) 13
9. Paul Martens (GER/RAB) s.t.
10. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 14
11. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) s.t.
12. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 15
13. David Millar (GBR/GRM) s.t.
14. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) s.t.
15. Maarten Tjallingii (NED/RAB) s.t.
16. Luis Pasamontes (ESP/GCE) s.t.
17. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 16
18. Branislau Samoilau (BLR/QST) s.t.
19. Ruben Plaza (ESP/GCE) 17
20. Ben Hermans (BEL/RSH) s.t.