At the end of the day, it's probably no surprise that world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (left, Team CSC) would win the opening day prologue for the 2007 Tour de France on Saturday by a 13-second margin.
The surprise is George Hincapie's (right, Discovery Channel) 3rd place finish in the London prologue, 10 seconds behind 2nd place Andreas Kloden (Astana), considered one of the overall Tour favorites.
Another US cyclist, David Zabriskie of Team CSC, briefly led the rankings in the 5-mile prologue, but dropped to 11th overall at the end of the day.
The Swiss cyclist Cancellara, 26, is just off two stage wins at the Tour of Switzerland and the individual time trial at the Swiss national cycling races. He previously won the Tour de France prologue in 2004.
While Cancellara isn't considered a challenger for the overall title, 32-year-old Kloden is. The German cyclist on the Astana team finished 2nd overall in the 2004 Tour de France as a rider with T-Mobile. He and teammate Alexander Vinokourov have each been touted as possible winners in this year's Tour.
Kloden and Vinokourov were T-Mobile teammates in 2005, along with Jan Ullrich. There was some rivalry among those three cyclists that year, as any of them had a shot to win the Tour if something happened to eventual winner Lance Armstrong. It will be interesting to see how the Kloden-Vinokourov dynamics play out this year, as Kloden starts Stage 1 on Sunday at 17 seconds ahead of Vino.
Hincapie might be looking to pull on the yellow jersey again this year with his strong 3rd place finish, 23 seconds behind Cancellara.
The 34-year-old cyclist from Greenville, North Carolina South Carolina, finished 2nd place in last year's prologue, but captured the top spot in General Classification by winning a time bonus in an intermediate sprint in Stage 1. He has more time to make up this year, however.
Hincapie told CyclingNews that he was disappointed with his 3rd place finish:
"I got second last year so it was a disappointment not to win today. I gave it my all. I felt like I left a little bit for the end, but in the last kilometre I was really on the limit."
Another Discovery Channel bicycle rider with a good showing in the prologue is Vladimir Gusev, 25. His 5th place finish earned him the Best Young Rider jersey after the prologue.
Top 10 overall:
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Team CSC
2. Andreas Kloden (Ger), Astana, 13 seconds behind
3. George Hincapie (US), Discovery Channel, 23 seconds
4. Bradley Wiggins (GB), Cofidis
5. Vladimir Gusev (Rus), Discovery Channel, 25 seconds
6. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse D'Epargne, 26 seconds
7. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, 30 seconds
8. Thomas Dekker (Neth), Rabobank, 31 seconds
9. Manuel Quinziato (Ital), Liquigas, 32 seconds
10. Benoît Vaugrenard (Fr), Francaise Des Jeux
Other US finishers:
11. David Zabriskie (US), Team CSC, 32 seconds26. Levi Leipheimer (US), Discovery, 40 seconds
71. Chris Horner (US), Predictor Lotto, 53 seconds
75. Christian Vande Velde (US), Team CSC, 53 seconds
131. Freddy Rodriguez (US), Predictor Lotto, 65 sesconds
