Last year's Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador (Astana), was the quickest rider over rolling terrain. He was four
seconds faster than his teammate Levi Leipheimer and thirteen ticks quicker than Rabobank's Thomas Dekker.
The 9.7 kilometres long race against the clock took place under cloudy skies and temperatures around 12C (54F). Early fast
times belonged to American rider Jason McCartney (CSC) with 11.54 which was enough for fourth place. Team CSC also had
Inigo Cuesta in 14th place and Carlos Sastre just outside the top-15.
"It was a good start for us with some decent results. The route was both technically difficult and also quite hilly for
a prologue and of course this gave the type of riders, we have in our line-up for this race, an advantage compared to other
prologues," said CSC sports director Dan Frost after the stage.
Thomas Dekker clocked 11.51 which was enough for third place. Dekker's teammate Denis Menchov lost 29 seconds on stage
winner Contador.
"Thomas's third place is a small surprise. For him as well," responded Rabobank's sports director Adri van Houwelingen.
"Denis Menchov's ninth place is somewhat conform the expectations and his potential at the moment. But, Thomas himself could
not really disclose anything about his current shape. Obviously, a third place in this strong field of contesters is a wonderful
boost for him."
As defending champion of the race, Contador was last on course and did not disappoint. Riding well within himself and showing
that hard work on his time trialing position is beginning to pay off, the race-favorite stormed the course and took the stage
win as well as race lead after stage one. Contador clocked a time of 11.39 and Leipheimer came in second, 4 seconds behind
his teammate.
