[Ready4Freddy]

AP 7/3/10 - Armstrong sends message on first day of Tour 38-year-old finishes fourth in time trial, and ahead of arch-rival Contador

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - Lance Armstrong could hardly have imagined a better start to what he’s calling his last Tour de France.

The Texan placed an impressive fourth in the short opening time trial, shrugging off renewed doping allegations to dust several other likely podium contenders as well as edge rival Alberto Contador, the defending champion and prerace favorite.

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, the world and Olympic time trial champion, collected a fourth Tour prologue win and second in a row, clocking 10 minutes even for the 5.5-mile ride on rain-dampened roads in Rotterdam.

Armstrong trailed 22 seconds back in fourth. Perhaps most impressively, the American bested Contador by 5 seconds.

The American’s solid performance was almost certain to brighten spirits within the RadioShack team on a day that started with new claims by former teammate Floyd Landis that the seven-time Tour champ was once involved in doping.

The 38-year-old sought to focus on the racing.

“In my heart, that was a surprise,” Armstrong said. “I wanted to have a decent day in the time trial, and I was not the best out there today.”

“But among the (general classification) rivals, I have to say it was the best one I’ve done since the comeback,” Armstrong said, referring to his Tour return last year after a 3-year hiatus.

more...

[concentric circles]

photo-Laurent Rebours
Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland strains to win the prologue of the Tour de France.

Laurent Rebours
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong strains to take a fourth place during the prologue of the Tour de France.

Laurent Rebours
Manuel Cardoso of Spain crosses the finish line after crashing in the prologue of the Tour de France, an individual time trial over 5.5 miles in the port city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Saturday July 3, 2010.

Laurent Rebours
Mathias Frank of Switzerland crosses the finish line after crashing.

[leilani]

Also from that link:

The victory was another vindication for Cancellara, who has been at the center of speculation that he benefited from a small motor hidden in his bike frame during the Paris-Roubaix race he won this year.

Cancellara has called the claims ridiculous, and they have not been proven true.

Video detailing the speculation has been a viral hit on the Internet, and partly to dampen the speculation, the International Cycling Union is scanning competitors’ bikes at this Tour to check for hidden motors.

“After they checked my bike, I said, ’You should also check the motor: Me!”’ Cancellara quipped.

I don't know if you or anyone else here followed that controversy - most of the cycling forums examined the 'motorized doping' evidence against FC in excruciating detail.

From what I was able to gather at the time, the general expert consensus tended to the conclusion that the video which first raised the possibility Cancellara had used a hidden motor for Paris-Roubaix & Tour of Flanders was probably just an idiotic viral marketing scheme promoted by Gruber, a European manufacturer of a bike motor, to generate interest in their product.

And yet, because of that single video of questionable provenance, ICU officials had to scan the bikes for hidden motors this year! lol. Which means Gruber's scam worked like a charm & viral marketing stunts which generate free buzz by hyping bogus controversies will just get more outrageous & more numerous.Yuck.