Race Report, Stage 1
London - Canterbury, 203 km
Alberto Contador achieved his goal of completing a peaceful ride today, crossing the line in the bunch with the winner’s time. Not all riders were so lucky. A crash near the end shook up part of the peloton, including at least one of the Discovery boys.
“It’s a shame that the stage finished with Benjamin Noval’s fall, but I hope it was nothing”, began Contador, in comments about the first stage of the Tour 2007. “There’s been an impressive number of fans along the road. I don’t know how many, but it’s surely more than a million people. I think it’s been a complete success bringing the Tour to England, but you can tell the majority don’t know about cycling, because they don’t know any of the riders’ names.”
Contador reported that he felt “very well in this stage, no problems. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve got more experience, but I haven’t had as many feelings of danger or tension as I had in the first Tour that I did.”
“Benjamin had been looking after me all day and was doing exceptional work. But at the very moment he dropped behind to help another teammate, he took a massive spill.”
Contador finished 44th. A tenacious ride by new KOM David Millar, who moved to 3rd on the GC, bumped Contador to 16th overall, still 35” off first place.
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