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A year after finishing the Tour de France in the sprinters’ green jersey, Thor Hushovd will start the opening road stage of the 2006 rendition in yellow. The burly Norwegian earned initial possession of the maillot jaune Saturday, taking victory in the 7.1km prologue that kicked off this year’s race in Strasbourg. On a steamy day in the Alsace region of eastern France, Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) blistered the flat, lollipop shaped course, posting a finish time of 8:17. That was just enough to eclipse American George Hincapie, the last of 176 riders to start the 93rd Tour de France. Hincapie

Prologue: Strasbourg 7.1km

... and what they hope to see at the finish.

Warming up

1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 8:172. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 8:173. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 8:214. Sebastian Lang (G), Gerolsteiner, 8:215. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 8:216. O’grady Stuart (Aus), CSC, 8:217. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 8:238. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 8:259. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 8:2610. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 8:27 11. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, 8:2712. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 8:2813. Manuel Quinziato (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 8:2914. Cadel Evans

Prologue: Strasbourg 7.1km

Chris Horner warms up...

Really warming up

Friday’s "cleansing" of the Tour de France continued to resonate as the reduced peloton of 176 riders lined up for Saturday’s opening prologue. The doping controversy continued to broil below the surface following the unprecedented expulsion of pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), Ivan Basso (CSC), Francisco Mancebo (Ag2r) and the entire Astaná-Würth team. The riders were taken out of the Tour just 24 hours before Saturday’s start after excerpts from some 500 pages of court and police documents of Spain’s ongoing doping investigation were presented to UCI and Tour officials late

Hushovd wins the prologue

... and on the course.

A few final adjustments

Discovery team director Johan Bruyneel discusses the rider ejections and how it will effect his teams strategy during the morning of the prologue. Click Here to watch video.

Did Landis miss a win?

Christian Vande Velde

Same here

VelonNews correspondents Jason Sumner and Andy Hood discuss the ejection of Jan Ullrich Ivan Basso and others, and its effects on the race. Click Here to watch video.

Christian Vande Velde earlier this week

Levi Leipheimer

Evans heads out on a scouting mission

Police were surprised when they raided the Madrid apartment of Spanishdoctor Eufemiano Fuentes on May 23 to find a cornucopia of products ranging from human growth hormones, testosterone patches, EPO and insulin.In one apartment, 96 pouches of frozen blood and 20 pouches of frozen plasma were found, while in another office, an additional 89 pouches of frozen blood and 19 pouches of frozen plasma were among the haul.Among centrifuges and other medical apparatus to extract and transfuse blood, members of the doping squad of Spain’s Guardia Civil found were more than 100 different products.The

Evans races to 14th in the prologue

Landis trying to make up for that late start

Meet the press

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Don’t elevate scandal over sportEditor:This is a terrible, terrible tragedy. Please, don't make it worse by allowing this tragedy to be the focus of your 2006 Tour de France coverage. There are still fierce competitors and heroes in this year’s Tour who aren't part of this

Hamilton with Sevilla at the 2004 team presentation

Hincapie came so close.

That's a lot of Bianchis

One day after he was forced out of the Tour de France because of a doping scandal, Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso said he was "not well" but "serene inside." The Team CSC rider complained in a television interview that he had not been formally notified of any investigation into suspected doping. "Surely, I am not well, that's clear," the Italian cyclist said. "I'm not well because, as of today, I have not been formally notified. But inside I am serene. And that is the most important thing." Basso and T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich, two of the favorites to win this year’s Tour, were among

McQuaid seeks harsh penalties.

Discovery's Jose Azevedo

Phonak's time machines

Out of the gates of hell, but out of the gates nonetheless. The last few days have been crazy, waking up every morning not knowing what the day will bring. It has been hard to keep our focus and stay above the haze of doubt and unknown. The journalists have been doing their jobs and just like anything, some do theirs better than others. I have so many questions and so much frustration that I don't even know where to begin, to the point of when I ran into George, a person in whom I have always confided, neither of us had a thing to say to each other. But the looks said it all; we

O'Grady channeled his anger into a fine prologue ride

Julich may have an unexpected role on CSC this Tour.

Hincapie's TT bike

Cadel Evans has become one of the riders capable of challenging for the Tour de France crown following the expulsion of several contenders implicated in the Spanish doping inquiry called Operación Puerto. He spoke to Rupert Guinness before placing 14th in Saturday's prologue time trial, just 13 seconds behind winner Thor Hushovd. — Editor VeloNews: There will be a number of riders won’t be here ... Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Francisco Mancebo, Alexandre Vinokourov. How will that change the completion of the race? Cadel Evans: Now there won’t be three teams who would try to control the

Oh so close: Hincapie finishes 0.73 seconds behind Hushovd

Zabriskie says he loves timed events more than any others.

And the new Trek Madone

The Tour de France was thrown into its biggest crisis since the 1998 Festina scandal Friday following the suspensions of the men most favored to take the yellow jersey in this year’s edition. A day before the start of the race, the first since seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired, organizers said even more riders could follow Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla in being suspended from the race by their teams. Earlier in the day, T-Mobile suspended 1997 winner Ullrich and his Spanish teammate Sevilla when fresh evidence from the ongoing Operación Puerto doping probe in Spain -

Looks like this cartoon won't be out of date for a while

"Sports could go down the road of the performance principle, where all that matters is success, by whatever means, at what cost. If we continue on that track, sports will become spectacle; and some people like that. But I think most of us who love sports will lose interest in it."— Thomas Murray, a bioethicist at the Hastings Center think tank and chairman of WADA's Ethical Issues Review Panel, in a story on ESPN.com Wave bye-bye, Thomas old boy. Sport — our sport, anyway — has already raced down that long and winding road, driven by a superhuman pair of legs powered by a godlike

State of shock: Ullrich was devastated by the news

On Thursday, before the Spanish authorities sent the black list of riders from Operación Puerto to the Tour de France organizers and the UCI, I started this column with the words, “Let the racing begin! Please.” Now that four top riders who appeared on that list — Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and Oscar Sevilla — have been suspended by their teams and will not start the Tour, those words have taken on even more significance for everyone who loves cycling, and the Tour de France in particular. When La Grand Boucle’s 93rd edition finally gets under way Saturday, it will be with

Vinokourov won't get to start on Saturday

Francisco Mancebo has reportedly decided to retire from cycling following his exclusion from the Tour de France by his Ag2r team Friday. A day before the start of the 93rd edition the 30-year-old Spaniard was suspended by his French outfit after he was named on a list of riders suspected of being involved in a blood doping network in Spain. The Tour will also be missing Germany's 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, his teammate at T-Mobile Oscar Sevilla, and recent Tour of Italy winner Ivan Basso, of CSC - all of whom are also implicated in what is being dubbed the biggest doping scandal to

Ullrich meets the press outside his hotel

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Embrace Tour, despite sport’s flawsEditor:The Tour de France is bigger than the riders who compete in it, but I'm concerned that the latest scandal will further tarnish an event that has struggled to come back from both the publicized scandals (such as Festina) and the persistent

Internet odds makers quickly reacted to Friday’s news that top riders Ivan Basso (CSC), Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Francisco Mancebo (Ag2r) have been excluded from the Tour de France by their respective teams after being named as suspects in the ongoing Spanish doping investigation, known as Operación Puerto. Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner, Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Épargne-Illes Balears) and Astaná-Würth’s Alexandre Vinokourov emerged as the two favorites, given odds of seven-to-two to wear the yellow jersey into Paris on July 23, while Amercans Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and

Lance Armstrong settled his libel case against a British newspaper over doping allegations Friday after winning a preliminary court ruling. The seven-time Tour de France champion sued The Sunday Times over a June 2004 article that referred to a book, "LA Confidential — The Secrets of Lance Armstrong." The High Court in London ruled in favor of Armstrong in a pretrial motion, saying the article "meant accusation of guilt and not simply reasonable grounds to suspect." Later, both sides announced that a settlement had been reached. Terms were not disclosed, but it means the case will not go

Statement from Johan Bruyneel-Team manager, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team "On the eve of the 2006 Tour de France all of the Team Director's meetto decide on the current situation regarding the riders named in the Spanishdoping scandal. The directors unanimously decided to uphold the codeof ethics that was signed by all teams on January 1, 2005 which statedthat no team would allow a rider to compete while under investigation inany doping affair. This is certainly an unfortunate situation forall of professional cycling, not just those teams and riders involved.And even though the top

Spain’s ongoing doping investigation turned into an executioner Friday at the Tour de France, essentially decapitating the peloton’s hierarchy just 24 hours ahead of Saturday’s prologue start in Strasbourg. Pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Ivan Basso (CSC) were among nine riders from five teams who were ruled out of the 93rd Tour in what brought back bad memories of the 1998 Festina scandal. Others not being allowed to start are Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile), Francisco Mancebo (Ag2r) and five members of Astana-Wurth: Sergio Paulinho, Isidro Nozal, Allan Davis, Alberto Contador and

The Astaná-Würth cycling team of Alexandre Vinokourov will not take part in the Tour de France due to the fact that five of the team’s nine Tour riders have been implicated in the ongoing doping probe in Spain. While Tour officials have not yet made an official statement, a revised race roster was issued late Friday evening and the Astaná-Würth team was not included. The team’s management firm later issued a statement saying it decided to pull the entire team after learning that the bulk of the squad was implicated in the scandal. That means the 93rd edition of the Tour will start with 20

30/06/2006: Press release : Puerto Operation : The UCI's StandpointHaving examined the EGB n°116 report which the Guardia Civil sent to the examining magistrate in the file "Operaciòn Puerto" on June 27th, 2006, the UCI considered that it results from this report that the following riders, registered to participate in the 2006 Tour de France, are questioned in this case:Sergio PAULINHOIsidro NOZALAllan DAVISAlberto CONTADORJoseba BELOKIFrancisco MANCEBOIvan BASSOJan ULLRICHOscar SEVILLAThe UCI underlines that the questioning does not mean that it is established that the above

Perhaps it’s premature to look ahead to the afternoon of July 23, 2006, when a new champion of the Tour de France will be crowned on the Champs-Élysées. Perhaps it’s naïve to look past the latest doping scandal to bring professional cycling to its knees. But for the continued popularity of our sport — which has never been at a higher point in the United States — we have to move on. It takes months, sometimes years before the judiciary resolves complicated cases like Operación Puerto; for instance the Cofidis team scandal of January 2004 is only going to court a few weeks from now, 30 months

The T-Mobile team, with its captain Jan Ullrich, had just turned on to the driveway of the Golf Hotel Plobsheim, when team director Olaf Ludwig's cell phone rang. On the other end of the line was team spokesman Christian Frommert, calling from the veranda of the posh resort, where the German media had assembled to await the presentation of the team’s Tour squad. Ludwig was told in no uncertain terms to make the bus driver turn around and leave ... immediately. It was a symbolic drive for Ullrich, who so often in his career had come so close to his goals but failed to reach them. This

Riis walks to a press conference after reaching his decision...

... but didn't make it to the podium.

Strasbourg, France (AFP) - Ag2r manager Vincent Lavenu said he will ban his team leader Francisco Mancebo from racing the Tour de France if the Spaniard's name appears on any official list of alleged blood dopers. The fallout from recent raids by Spanish police investigating a reported blood doping network led Thursday to publication in Madrid media of a 58-strong list which contains the names of some of cycling's biggest stars including Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso. All the riders on the list are alleged to be clients of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who after the recent raids is being

Strasbourg, France (AFP) - Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso have been named in Spain's judicial investigation into blood doping, Cadena Ser radio station reported on Thursday. Both T-Mobile rider Ullrich of Germany and Italian Basso of CSC are hot, pre-race favorites for the July 1 to 23 Tour de France. Other riders named include Spaniards Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras, and Francisco Mancebo, American TylerHamilton and Colombian Santiago Botero, according to Cadena Ser. The news was revealed after the judge in charge of the investigation lifted reporting restrictions on Thursday at the

Let the racing begin! Please.Everyone who loves cycling, and the Tour de France in particular, is praying that La Grand Boucle’s 93rd edition can get under way Saturday with no more distractions. But even before the ghastly tentacles of Operación Puerto reached out from Madrid to create a doping frenzy in Strasbourg, the Tour’s usual composure was already compromised. The glitzy, eve-of-the-race presentation of the 21 teams was moved forward to Thursday night to avoid a television clash with Friday’s first two quarter-finals of soccer’s World Cup in nearby Germany. And the prologue itself,

The Spanish cycling team of Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov, Astaná-Würth, will be on the start line at the Tour de France after a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling on Thursday rejected an effort to ban the team from the race. The court decided to reject a request from the Tour's organizers to exclude Astaná-Würth from the race, which begins on July 1, after their former team manager Manolo Sáiz was linked with the Spanish blood-doping investigation currently engulfing the sport. CAS Judge Guido de Croock applauded the organizers’ commitment to ethics, but said there was no real

Click here to watch the video.

Millar says he will be 100 percent clean

When a team packs its bags

When a team packs its bags

Rabobank

Rabobank

Britain's David Miller admitted he will be harboring feelings of shame when he saddles up as a favorite in what could be a spectacular return to the Tour de France here Saturday. Millar's two-year ban for admitting to using the banned endurance enhancer EPO (erythropoietin) ended last week, giving him a chance to bid for victory in the 7.1km prologue which would hand him the race's famous yellow jersey. And while primed for a battle with the CSC team's time trial specialist David Zabriskie, an emotional Millar said the buzz of excitement he will feel will be tempered by

Davitamon-Lotto

A cycling team at the Tour de France is a small autonomous universe thatserves as a lifeline to its nine riders. Its rigorous structure enablesthe riders to race worry-free. Each team’s amenities, however, dependson the budget. AG2R Prévoyance is a typical UCI ProTour team. Here,AG2R manager Vincent Lavenu lays out the organizational structure of hissquad’s operation.PERSONNELTour de France organizers handle hotel arrangements for 23 individualsper participating team. Other than that, each manager is free to put togethera staff that will ensure everything runs well for the team (for

Davitamon-Lotto

Team Manager: Theo de Rooy51. Denis Menchov (Rus)52. Michael Boogerd (Nl)53. Bram De Groot (Nl)54. Erik Dekker (Nl)55. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp)56. Oscar Freire (Sp)57. Joost Posthuma (Nl)58. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk)59. Pieter Weening (Nl) Sponsor: Dutch bank2006 budget: $12.5 millionYear current sponsor started: 1996Former title sponsors: WordPerfect (1993-95), Buckler (1990-92),Super-Confex (1987-89), Kwantum (1984-86)Past Tours (as Rabobank): 11th participation, 14 stagewins, 1 King of the Mountains (Rasmussen, 2005)Trivia: Michael Rasmussen, last year’s King of the Mountains,finished

Phonak

Team Manager: Marc Sergeant61. Cadel Evans (Aus)062. Mario Aerts (B)063. Christophe Brandt (B)64. Christopher Horner (USA)65. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus)66. Fred Rodriguez (USA)67. Gert Steegmans (B)68. Wim Vansevenant (B)69. Johan Vansummeren (B) Sponsors: Pharmaceutical group and Belgian national lottery2006 budget: $7.5 millionYear current sponsor started: 2005Former title sponsor: Lotto (1985-2004)Past Tours (as Davitamon-Lotto): Second participation,3 stage winsTrivia: Robbie McEwen leads the team with career victories,having topped the 90-win mark this year. But his veteran teammates areno

Phonak

Team Manager: John Lelangue71. Floyd Landis (USA)72. Bert Grabsch (G)73. Robert Hunter (RSA)74. Nicolas Jalabert (F)75. Martin Perdiguero M.angel (Sp)76. Axel Merckx (B)77. Koos Moerenhout (Nl)78. Alexandre Moos (Swi)79. Hugo Victor Hugo (Col) Sponsor: Hearing systems manufacturer2006 budget: $10 millionYear current sponsor started: 2000Former title sponsors: NonePast Tours: Third participation, 1 stage winTrivia: The Swiss team riders have scored six stages wins inpast Tours, three by Santiago Botero and two by Floyd Landis (both in teamtime trials), who finished ninth last

Zabriskie has to be among the favorites to win Saturday's prologue