Rubens who? Bertogliati takes stage and jersey

Cycling journalists love to play with numbers. All day long, the hacks were figuring the time splits among the favorites in the chase for the yellow jersey in the 192.5-km opening stage of the 2002 Tour de France.

Prologue winner Lance Armstrong revealed he wasn't interested in defending the maillot jaune when he conceded the time bonuses at the first intermediate sprint after 50km, so the jersey was prime for the picking.
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Overall standings after one stage:
1. BERTOGLIATI Rubens (Swi), Lampre-Daikin en 4h 58:21
2. JALABERT Laurent (F), CSC-Tiscali, at 00:03
3. ARMSTRONG Lance (USA), U.S. Postal, at 00:03
4. RUMSAS Raimondas (Lit), Lampre-Daikin, at 00:06
5. BOTERO Santiago (Col), Kelme, at 00:07
6. MILLAR David (GB), Cofidis, at 00:08
7. BROCHARD Laurent (F), Jean Delatour, at 00:09
8. ZABEL Erik (G), Telekom, at 00:10
9. FRIGO Dario (I), Taconi, at 00:11
10. GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor (Sp), ONCE, at 00:12

thanks to VeloNews

The early part of the race will be contested by the sprinters — the flatlanders. Lance and his team will be up front not letting any threats get away that could build up points. The first real test will be Stage 9 — Monday, July 15. That will be a tough time trial. Lance is the favorite. What is unknown is how much time he can put on the field. There will be a day of rest after the time trial and then the big boys will come out and play on Stage 11 — Thursday, July 18 as the Tour heads into the Pyrénées.

Lance faked every one out last year. He appeared to be struggling on the first mountain stage until they arrived at the last *steep* section and Lance just went off the front and then everyone realized the race was pretty much over and it was going to be Lance's Tour. Lance isn't going to suprise anyone this year. But then, he probably doesn't need to.

There are a lot of miles to go.