You don’t really imagine that much will happen in a prologue. It’s only a handful of miles out of a race that covers thousands of them. The Schlecks had other ideas, however.
In keeping with a season that has largely revolved around whinging about being in the wrong races, whinging about injury, dropping out or finishing 90th, The Schlecks managed to concede half a minute to Bradley Wiggins. Well played. That’s a sterling performance.
The odds were very much against that kind of self-inflicted body blow, but The Schlecks left in all the stops to achieve someone else’s goals. Half a minute isn’t an enormous amount of time in the context of the entire Tour, but start as you mean to go on.
Of the other major contenders, Wiggins was second, Cadel Evans was 13th, Vincenzo Nibali was 14th and Ryder Hesjedal was 15th, while our man Denis Menchov managed to stay on his bike for all 6.4km and finished a very respectable eighth.
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