Cycling: Armstrong wary of first week of tour

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, - The Tour de France gets under way today and Lance Armstrong says flat-out: Don't expect him to win the prologue of what will be his last ride in cycling's premier event.

This mainly flat 8.9-kilometre stage through the Dutch port of Rotterdam's city centre doesn't feature any major difficulty but Armstrong, who used to dominate his rivals in time trials during his heyday, has struggled in the discipline recently.

Last year, his failure in the Annecy time trial was a fatal blow to his ambition to seal his comeback with an eighth Tour win, and Armstrong ultimately had to be content with a third-place finish.

"I'm not going to win on Saturday, I know that," Armstrong said. "These time trials ... I don't know, it's just I've lost it."

Armstrong built his seven straight Tour victories with strong displays in mountains and time trials. But at nearly 39 years old, Armstrong lacks explosiveness in the race against the clock.

On top of that, the cancer survivor had a complicated season in which he didn't find the time to practice that demanding event.

The American was expected to compete in time trials at the Circuit de la Sarthe and at the Tour of California this season but had to withdraw from both events because of illness and a crash.

"He did some time trial work but it has been a catch-up constantly to find a good condition," said Armstrong's sports director at RadioShack, Johan Bruyneel.

Armstrong, however, gave some guarantees about his current time trial form at The Tour of Switzerland last month, when he finished second following a solid performance in the race's final stage.

Among Saturday's prologue favourites are Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar of Britain as well as Tony Martin of Germany.

Martin won the Tour of Switzerland's time trial ahead of Cancellara and American David Zabriskie, another top contender for the stage win on Saturday.

"For sure, to win this stage is a big goal," Martin said. "Hopefully I will be able to achieve this tomorrow."

Armstrong's hopes have been boosted this year by the fact that there is only one big time trial scheduled during the three-week race, a 52-kilometre ride between Bordeaux and Pauillac on the eve of the finish on the Champs-Elysees.

But the course, which includes a total of 23 mountain passes, is also likely to favor defending champion Alberto Contador, who is considered the best climber in the world.

Contador says Armstrong can't be ruled out.

"I think he's stronger than last year," the 27-year-old Spaniard told reporters. "There are maybe about 10 to 12 riders with intentions to win the Tour, and Armstrong is among them."

"He seems very motivated, we'll have to look out for him."

Contador had a tense relationship with the seven-time champion when they rode together on the Astana team last year.

Contador is aiming to win the Tour for the third time, with help from Alexandre Vinokourov, a Kazakh star who is returning from a two-year doping ban.

"My relations with Vino are excellent, there's great trust between us, and it's impossible that something like last year will happen this year," Contador said.

The race features a daunting last week in the Pyrenees, with four stages in the mountains that form the border of France and Spain. The mythical Tourmalet, one of the toughest climbs in cycling, will be scaled twice.

"The route is better than last year's because there are more mountains," Contador said. "And finishing with the Tourmalet is great for me."

Armstrong acknowledged this year's Tour is one of the toughest ones he'll tackle, with riders going through seven dangerous and treacherous cobblestone sectors in the third stage.

"The first week we can't have any mistake," Armstrong said. "We can't lose time. I have to get through the first week neutral. There will be people, I think, that will be minutes behind. If you consider the first three or four stages in relation to the last four stages, it's a full race. There is three weeks of real racing. It's start to finish."

Returning to the Tour after a two-year doping ban, Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso said the cobblestones stage was "a bit frightening."

"It's going to be a very difficult stage," Basso told a news conference. "This stage doesn't suit my skills and I will have to be very relaxed. But we had a stage with the same kind of stress level during the Giro and I handled it well."

- AP