No Second-Guessing Armstrong Now

The first few miles of the Tour de France were dicey enough, requiring tight turns on narrow city streets. Then came wind gusts strong enough to alter a rider’s trajectory, plus the occasional sprinkle to make the road surface slick.

It was a day for gamblers who know what they’re doing, and one of the great risk-takers in all of sports played a better hand than almost anyone.

Lance Armstrong opened his bid for a record sixth Tour de France victory with a second-place finish in Saturday’s 3.7-mile Prologue, two seconds behind Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara.

Armstrong said his short but sweet day of racing should help quell the doubts -- including his own -- raised by a subpar performance in his last time trial, the grueling climb up Mont Ventoux in the Dauphini Libiri race in early June. Two of his chief rivals, Phonak team leader Tyler Hamilton and Iban Mayo of Spain’s Euskaltel team, beat him by significant margins that day.

“For all the people who said, ‘I don’t know about Lance Armstrong,’ you know, I was also one of those people,” an elated Armstrong said as reporters and fans thronged around him.

“I had serious doubts the night of Mont Ventoux.... I was also at home thinking, ‘What happened?’ So I don’t blame anyone for that.”

U.S. Postal Service director Johan Bruyneel said he did not share those doubts.

“Today, Lance was very motivated and he wanted to show everybody that what [they] were saying wasn’t really the truth,” Bruyneel said. “Three weeks is a long path, but I’m still happy with today’s results.”

Two other U.S. riders, Armstrong’s teammate George Hincapie and CSC’s Bobby Julich, finished in the top 10. Hamilton was 18th.

Germany’s Jan Ullrich was 16th, 17 seconds back. That margin isn’t significant at the start of a three-week race, and Armstrong knows better than to underestimate the man who came within a minute of beating him last year.

“Jan will be super, trust me,” Armstrong said.

“It’s disappointing to lose the maillot jaune [leader’s yellow jersey] by a couple seconds, but that’s the way it goes. The more important thing is, how did you feel, and I was very comfortable.”

Disaster befell one Tour rider. Australia’s Matthew White barreled into a spectator while warming up on the Prologue course, crashed and broke his collarbone.

White’s Cofidis team, already competing under the shadow of a drug scandal that cost star David Millar his slot on the Tour roster, made an emergency call to the rider with the best chance of making the afternoon start -- Belgian Peter Farazijn.

Farazijn received a police escort to Liege and performed admirably under the circumstances, finishing 185th of 188 riders, 1 minute 1 second behind Cancellara.

Armstrong is expected to drop in the overall standings over the next three days. Today and Monday are sprint stages, and Tuesday’s course, which crosses the border into France, includes portions of the jarring, hazardous cobblestone stretches that gave the Paris-Roubaix race its nickname, “Hell of the North.”

U.S. Postal’s goal will be to keep its leader safe and sheltered until Wednesday’s team time trial, where Armstrong and his minions will be among the favorites.

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THE TOP 10

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Liege, Belgium (3.8-mile prologue)

*--* P CYCLIST COUNTRY TEAM TIME 1. Fabian Switzerland Fassa Bortolo 6 minutes, 50 Cancellara seconds 2. Lance United States U.S. Postal Service 2 seconds Armstrong behind 3. Jose Ivan Spain Illes Balears-B. 8 seconds Gutierrez Santander behind 4. Bradley McGee Australia fdjeux.com 9 seconds behind 5. Thor Hushovd Norway Credit Agricole 10 seconds behind 6. Oscar Spain Phonak Hearing 11 seconds Pereiro Sio Systems behind 7. Jens Voigt Germany Team CSC 11 seconds behind 8. Christophe France Credit Agricole 12 seconds Moreau behind 9. Bobby Julich United States Team CSC 12 seconds behind 10. George United States U.S. Postal Service 12 seconds Hincapie behind

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AT A GLANCE

* Stage: A 3.8-mile individual time trial, where riders raced flat out against the clock.

* Winner: Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, in 6 minutes, 50 seconds.

*How others fared: Lance Armstrong placed second, two seconds behind. Jan Ullrich was 16th, 17 seconds behind.

* Yellow jersey: Cancellara.

* Quote of the day: “There is a lot of dangerous racing to go.” -- Armstrong.

* Next stage: 125.5 miles from Liege to Charleroi, Belgium.