Pro Tour has returned after a number of Continental races. We won't completely "miss" the CT-tour, though, since the American-based Slipstream is participating in this race with Raisin as leader for the overall and Haedo for the sprints. But for this first stage, a 4.5 km. short prologue, we have to look out for riders such as Zabriskie of Wikipedia, Millar of Accumalux and Reus of Magenta.
The first rider to set an impressive time was Tom Zirbel of the wild-card team Slipstream with his 6'54. However, he was soon beaten by one of the race favourites, David Abal, who did it in 6'50. Surprisingly, this was also enough to beat another race favourite, Kai Reus, who did it 5 seconds slower than Abal. So, this time lasted for a long while.
It lasted .. until David Zabriskie, a pre-stage favourite, came along. 8 seconds faster than Abal, and new 'leader' of the stage. And with a time like that, there was no doubt we would have to wait until the next pre-stage favourite until we would see a change. Ignatiev came close, but only for a third place.
So, if we fast-forward, both Zubeldia and David Millar are on the route now. Zubeldia is getting older and older, and that was proved today since he didn't manage to sneak his way into top 3. Instead, we have David Millar right behind him .. and he doesn't manage to beat Zabriskie's time! His time of 6'49 is 7 seconds slower than Zabriskie and is just enough for a 2nd place spot.
.. and I have to say that I was caught by surprise moments later when Gerdemann passed the line. With 6'47, he managed to beat Millar's time and take the 2nd place. What a great form he's in! That said, it's still Zabriskie in front, and he seems pretty much unbeatable.
As time went by, Zabriskie proved to be the strongest with no one else being anywhere near him.
