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Pardon Fabian Cancellara if he looked a little scruffy on the winner’s podium after trading his world champion’s time trial rainbow stripes for the maillot jaune. “I would love to shave but I lost my luggage while flying to London on Wednesday,” Cancellara said, sporting a hint of a mustache and scruff on his chin. “I’m happy to be in the yellow jersey, but I’d love to have my luggage back!” The 26-year-old Swiss time machine has been three days without his razors and just about everything else except his Team CSC kit and his Cervélo time trial bike. That’s all he needed following his

Fabian Cancellara ticked along like a fine Swiss timepiece during the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France in London on Sunday, and our man Casey Gibson was on hand to watch. (Yeah, yeah... We know, it's a horrible gag, we know, but the pictures he sent back more than make up for it.)

There were few teams more emotional - and rightly so - after the Tour de France prologue on Saturday than CSC. Indirectly forced to leave their emblematic manager Bjarne Riis at home because of his recent admission to doping in the 1990s, the determined Danish outfit was given a quick scare when top rider Stuart O'Grady came crashing down during his promising prologue performance. O'Grady got back up and finished on a spare bike, and after some medical care was given the all clear to keep on racing — albeit with a scraped back and a sore thigh muscle, which he should feel for the

The Cervélo’s P3 Carbon just keeps on winning races, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is indeed a fast bike… especially when you put a motor like Fabian Cancellara on top of it. Cancellara also powered the same P3 Carbon to a victory in the world time-trial championship. Indeed, the rest of the team was riding an even newer version of the P3 Carbon emblazoned with the world champion’s rainbow. Funny thing, Cancellera’s was an older bike without the famed arc en ciel, prompting teammate Jens Voigt to ask one obvious question. “Why is it actually that Fabian is the only one

On yet another glorious sun-splashed day in British Columbia, the inaugural BC Bike Race: The Pacific Traverse came to an end Saturday. Once again top stage honors went to the Trek-Volkswagen duo of Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk, who after zipping along at 100kph on a Skyline cable ride, zipped around the singletrack-laden Whistler time trial course in 1:29:51. It was their seventh stage win, giving the pair of American east coasters a clean sweep in this race that started a week ago in Sooke on Vancouver Island, and finished more than 500 kilometers later in the shadows of the spectacular

TourTech: A matter of timing - Those little transponders

Millar’s custom prologue-specific Scott Plasma.

No doubt about who owns this one.

Some Scottish inspiration.

Mechanics made these stops to help Millar keep a good grip during the 7.9km race.

No chances of losing a chain in this prologue.

Rogers’s spare carbon time-trial bike, Giant’s TCR Advanced.

His special prologue bike, still sans shifters and cables at 5 p.m. on Friday.

The non-drive view.

Rogers' name badge is a bit more subtle, notice the seat collar engraving from yesteryear.

Internal cable routing

Selle Italia’s custom TT saddle.

The big Swiss time machine rips it up in London

Klöden was second fastest on the day

Hincapie rounded out the podium in third, but he wasn't happy about it

And the big Swiss time machine dons the first yellow jersey of this year's Tour

Wiggins said he left it all out there on the road

Millar said he was happy with his performance, considering his condition

Zabriskie just missed the top 10, finishing 11th at 9:22

Cancellara said Paris-Roubaix taught him how to handle pressure

Cheerio, I'm off . . .

Johann Bruyneel and Sergio Paulinho just before the start.

Oscar Friere rolls out of start booth.

Riders and crowd in front of Buckingham Palace

Juan Antonio Flecha and the Union Jack.

Discovery's Gusev flies into the best young rider jersey.

One of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards keeps on eye on the proceedings.

The start ramp at Whitehall.

Leipheimer says he's in a three-week bike race.

Thomas Vaitkus is off to a very good start, only two seconds off of Leipheimer's time and seventh in the young rider competition.

Zabriskie flying through the turn in front of Buckingham palace.

Cancellara on a Friday shake-down ride.

The cockpit of Cancellara’s backup bike.

FSA’s new Neo Pro MegaExo time-trial crank.

Selle Italia’s custom time-trial saddle.

Cancellara’s backup bike.

Dave Zabriskie’s P3C carried him to 11th.

COURSE: The prologue starts in theheart of London, goes past Downing Street (residence of Britain’s PrimeMinister), the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey to BuckinghamPalace (residence of Queen Elizabeth II). The course then climbs Constitution Hill, passes through Wellington Arch and loops around The Serpentine, a lake in Hyde Park, before heading back downhill to the Victoria Memorial and to the finish on The Mall, London’s grandest avenue, with Buckingham Palace as the backdrop. HISTORY: This is the first timethat the Tour has started in London, although the race has visited

Enrico Degano – an Italian on the Barloworld wild-card team – will be the first rider out of the gate in Saturday’s prologue start to the 94th Tour de France. Degano will role down the start ramp at 3 p.m. London time in the 7.9km course through the heart of downtown London past such landmarks as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. The 189-rider start list was released Friday ahead of the traditional prologue, with last year’s runner-up, Oscar Pereiro, starting last at 6:08 p.m. Pereiro snagged the No. 11 start bib after Tour officials decided to not award the traditional No.

Predictor-Lotto’s Cadel Evans and T-Mobile's Michael Rogers are leading a two-pronged Aussie bid for top finishes in the race's general classification, with Evans considered the best bet for success. The soft-spoken former mountain biker last year became Australia's highest-ever overall finisher when he came in fifth overall. Rogers placed a respectable 10th - although both he and Evans could be moved up a notch if American champion Floyd Landis is eventually disqualified for doping following his positive test for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio. In the meantime,

Sympathy is not something Predictor-Lotto’s Robbie McEwen is usually known to offer his rivals. But on Thursday the Australian sprinter admitted he felt sorry for one of his main rivals, Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. But in almost the same breath McEwen called for glorious sporting achievements at this year’s Tour de France to replace months of lurid headlines about doping in cycling. Petacchi, who faces a one-year ban for an unusually high level of salbutamol during the Giro d'Italia, will not race the Tour this year. He also missed last year’s edition due to a knee

David Millar hopes his tortured past and uncertain present doesn’t spell demise for his immediate future. The Scot is battling ghosts of his doping past and suffering through pangs of doubt over his form at the eve of the most important race of his career. The repentant Saunier Duval-Prodir rider - who served a two-year ban for taking banned performance-enhancing products before returning to competition in 2006 – admitted he’s not at his best ahead of the 7.9km prologue to put the Tour de France into gear Saturday. “I’m riddled with self-doubt. I don’t have the same confidence I normally

Despite rumors that Americans Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong were to attend this weekend’s start of the Tour de France, neither is expected to show up. Landis is in the U.S. on a tour promoting his new book, “Positively False,” and is refusing interview requests from cycling media. He also is awaiting a ruling on charges that he doped en route to winning last year’s Tour. A decision from the three-member arbitration panel is expected in the coming weeks. Discovery Channel officials confirmed that Armstrong will not be in London this weekend.

Spanish riders Oscar Pereiro and Alejandro Valverde outright refused to answer questions about Operación Puerto in face of heated queries from journalists during a tense press conference Friday. Despite a request from team manager Eusebio Unzue that journalists only ask queries about sport, one German journalist directly challenged Valverde to comment on a document from the Puerto files that allegedly made inferences to “Piti,” a code name that some insist could link Valverde to the Spanish doping scandal. When Valverde stoically refused, journalists yelled out, “Answer the question – it’s

The 2007 world road race championships, scheduled for Stuttgart in September, could be called off due to the wave of doping scandals hitting cycling, a German government minister has warned. "The world championships in Stuttgart are in a critical situation and it's not inconceivable that the organizing committee will have to reconsider everything," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble was quoted as saying in Saturday's edition of Tagesspiegel. "Perhaps we'll have to reach the conclusion that a spectacular cancellation (of the championships) would herald the new start cycling

The Tour de France is ready to roll on Saturday afternoon in London, but on Friday night riders and fans celebrated the coming three-week spectacular with a formal opening ceremony in Trafalgar Square. Our man Casey Gibson was on the scene.

In every stage race there is a day that helps define the event. In the inaugural BC Bike Race: The Pacific Traverse that day came Friday during an arduous 58-kilometer journey from Squamish to Whistler. The sheer amount of climbing — more than 8000 feet — was daunting enough. But when you added in an extensive menu of technical trails and black diamond descents, it was enough to make some of the event’s 160 hardened riders cry — literally. For others it was all smiles and laughter, as riders relished the chance to sample some of the “wicked” trails that have made Whistler a Mecca-like

The tires are glued and bikes are prepped, but at 5 p.m. on the eve of the 2007 Tour de France. Many teams still have plenty to do. Earlier in the day, teams were scrambling because of an 11th-hour “clarification” of an equipment regulation that effected time-trial position. The problem is a poorly written rule that governs hand position when using the aero’ extensions on time-trial bikes. As the rule stood, at Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse, teams were left to interpret what was within the boundaries for positioning when using the aero‘ position that Floyd Landis pioneered last year. At

One of the charming local residences the race will pass by.

The route

Prologue - London, 7.9km

No yellow jersey, no No.1, but Pereiro will be the last out of the start house on Saturday

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

Pereiro will start with bib No. 11

The smiles quickly faded as reporters continued to ask doping questions.

Pereiro says it's been hard to concentrate on riding lately