Hushovd offers first surprise of drugs-hit Tour

By Jean-Paul Couret

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – Norwegian Thor Hushovd was
the surprise winner of the time trial prologue on Saturday when
the Tour de France, shorn of its pre-race favorites, began
under a doping cloud.

The Credit Agricole rider set a time of eight minutes 17
seconds on the 7.1-km flat course along the wide avenues of the
host city of the European parliament.

George Hincapie, who became the new leader of the Discovery
Channel team after seven-times winner Lance Armstrong retired
last year, was less than a second behind after being last down
the starting ramp.

Another American, David Zabriskie (CSS), had to content
himself with third place, four seconds adrift of Hushovd.

The American rider, who defeated Lance Armstrong by two
seconds in last year’s Tour prologue and won the Dauphine
Libere’s opening short time trial last June, was regarded as
the hot favorite.

Sebastian Lang of Germany was fourth and Spain’s Alejandro
Valverde fifth.

Hushovd is one of the best sprinters in the peloton but is
not regarded as a time trial specialist. He admitted he was
surprised by his performance.

“I never thought I could win the prologue,” he said. “I
knew I had done a lot of progress against the clock but I never
thought it would be enough.”

David Millar, winner of the 2000 Tour prologue who was
making his return to action after a two-year doping ban, was
happy with 17th place, 15 seconds behind Hushovd.

“I thought I would never race again but a year ago I
decided I would come back and I did it,” said the Briton. “It’s
a dream come true. I’m very happy.”

Hushovd will wear the race leader’s yellow jersey during
Sunday’s 184.5-km first road stage around Strasbourg but his
leadership should be short-lived.

His win confirmed the 2006 Tour could be the most open race
for years after Armstrong’s retirement and the withdrawal of
the two main pretenders to succeed the American, Jan Ullrich
and Ivan Basso.

The German, winner of the Tour in 1997, and the Italian,
champion at the last Giro d’Italia, were swept away by a doping
tidal wave on the eve of the start of the race. The top five
from the 2005 race have either retired or been withdrawn.

Seven other riders and a whole team, Astana-Wuerth, were
implicated in a doping investigation in Spain and had to pull
out. The peloton was reduced from 21 to 20 teams and from 189
to 176 riders.

The first indications of the new Tour hierarchy will
probably come after the seventh stage, a 52-km individual time
trial, on July 8.