Sprinters in the spotlight -- for now

"Most Americans," says commentator Paul Sherwen of the Outdoor Life Network, "don't realize that the Tour de France is a three-week bike race."

After the first 941 miles, across the flat and rolling hills of northern France, the Spaniard, Igor Gonzalez Galdeano, was in first place with a time of 32 hours, 18 minutes, 46 seconds.

Lance Armstrong was eighth, but behind by only 34 seconds. To put this in perspective, last year, after missing a breakaway in a monsoon, Armstong was 32 minutes behind before the mountain stages -- and he made up over 35 minutes from there.
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Rest Day Report - Tour heads to the hills

The dust was still settling a day after Lance Armstrong's narrow defeat in Monday's 52km individual time trial. The 182 riders remaining in the 2002 Tour de France flew down to Bordeaux on two chartered airplanes while everyone else - mechanics, journalists and hangers-on - made the 500km drive by autoroute from Lorient.

Most teams went on an afternoon training ride after the trip down. Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team went on a two-hour ride for about 80 kilometers. Riders idled away the afternoon, taking naps and relaxing as much as possible.

Following Wednesday's transition stage to Pau, the Tour de France enters the decisive phase of the race. Six hard climbing stages packed in eight days.
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