Armstrong Is Off to a Rough Start

Climbing straight toward the sky on his bike for miles and miles, up and up in the mountains -- that’s no problem for Lance Armstrong.

But cobblestones, bumpy, bruising, uneven cobblestones, Armstrong’s not so crazy about those.

The 100th anniversary Tour de France began Saturday with a bone-chattering 4.03-mile sprint through the heart of scenic Paris. The Eiffel Tower provided a breathtaking background and foreground to the start and the finish of this prologue time trial and it was an emotional Australian, Bradley McGee, who put the yellow jersey over his head at the end.

Armstrong, the 31-year-old American who is heavily favored to win his fifth consecutive Tour, had earned the right, as defending champion, to start the 2003 race wearing that yellow shirt which goes on the leader each of the next 21 days.

But Armstrong said he preferred to earn the jersey. It may take a few days.

Wearing the red, white and blue colors of his U.S. Postal Service team, Armstrong finished seventh, seven seconds behind McGee, an Olympic bronze medalist. Armstrong wasn’t even the top American, finishing one second behind Tyler Hamilton, who is riding for the Danish Team CSC.

Armstrong shouted three sentences before ducking into a car and heading off to get ready for today’s first stage race, a 104.4-mile route which begins at the same small cafe -- Le Reveil Matin -- in a Paris suburb where the first Tour began in 1903.

“I didn’t feel great,” Armstrong said. “I got a slow start, it wasn’t very comfortable and I was struggling with the pounding of the cobblestones. But the race will change.”

Armstrong was mostly warmly received by the thousands of Parisians who lined a route through the heart of the city. This was the first time in 40 years that the Tour began in the same place -- Paris -- where it always finishes.

Starting last among the 198 riders, Armstrong began slowly. He seemed to pour his energy into the final half of the race, but he was never a threat to win this opening segment.

Finishing second to McGee, who rode across the finish line with a punctured tire, was Britain’s David Millar. Millar had been on pace to win the prologue until he lost a chain near the finish line.

Among the racers considered most likely to challenge Armstrong when they return to Paris July 27, Germany’s Jan Ullrich was fourth, two seconds behind the winner; Hamilton was sixth; and Spain’s Joseba Beloki was eighth.