19:10 - Yellow To Zabriskie!
In his Tour de France debut Dave Zabriskie has won a stage and will wear the yellow jersey for tomorrow’s first stage. He has beaten the six-time champion by two seconds.
Alexandre Vinokourov is third; George Hincapie fourth and Laszlo Bodrogi fifth.
19:09 - Zabriskie Wins!
Lance Armstrong has finished the stage in second place. He has been beaten by just two seconds his compatriot, Dave Zabriskie!
18:59 - Armstrong 3" Behind Zabriskie...
Lance Armstrong is the only rider even close to matching Zabriskie. The defending champion is just 3" behind the young American revelation with 9.6km to go.
18:59 - Ullrich In 30th Place
Jan Ullrich has reached the first check with a time that’s 42" slower than Zabriskie! It’s enough to put the 1997 Tour winner in 30th place with just Lance Armstrong yet to reach that time check.
18:49 - Hiccup At Start For Armstrong...
Lance Armstrong has just begun the time trial. After rolling down the start ramp he applied pressure to the pedals and almost immediately pulled his foot lose. He quickly clipped back in and is now in pursuit of Ullrich...
18:25 - Rogers’ Time With 9.6km To Go...
The world time trial champion has posted a time of 11’08" at the first check. This is 53" slower than Dave Zabriskie.
18:20 - Rear Disc Wheels Common Today
The strong winds that blew over the course of the time trial only two days ago have eased. Many riders are opting to race the stage today with a rear disc wheel. There is a light breeze blowing from the north-west and there has been little variation in the strength of the wind since the start of the stage.
18:11 - World Time Trial Champion To Start At 6.14pm
The two-time world time trial champion, Australian Michael Rogers, is due to begin his third Tour de France at 6.14pm. He has stated that his ambition for this year’s race is a top-10 finish in the general classification.
"The course for today’s time trial is very flat and doesn’t necessarily suit my style," said the Quickstep rider at the start of the stage. "I prefer more undulations than what we have here in the Vendee... but I’ll do my best to try and post a good time."
17:12 - Zabriskie’s Current Record...
The average speed of the rider with the current best time (Dave Zabriskie - 54.68km/h) is the fastest ever ridden in a time trial stage of the Tour de France.
It’s important to note that this does not include prologues (as Chris Boardman’s winning time on the opening day of the 1994 Tour netted an average speed of 55.152km/h).
Zabriskie’s average is, however, the second fastest of an individual on any day of the Tour.
17:06 - 28 Nations Represented In 92nd Tour
There are riders from 28 countries in this year’s Tour (one more nation than last year). The breakdown is as follows:
35 - Spain
30 - France
27 - Italy
16 - Germany
11 - Belgium
10 - Australia
9 - USA and The Netherlands
7 - Switzerland
5 - Ukraine
4 - Austria
3 - Kazakstahn, Russia and Sweden
2 - Denmark, Estonia and Norway
1 - South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Uzbekstahn, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Venezuela.
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