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2004 Tour de France
2004 Tour de France news
2004 Bike Review

Check out the smoothest rigs this side of L'Alpe d'Huez in the Road Bike Review section of this year's Outside Buyer's Guide.  [more] 

Cycling Training

Are you fit enough to blow through three weeks of hundred-mile race stages? Funny, neither are we. But with a whole lot of practice and some help from Chris Carmichael and the Outside Training Center, perhaps we too could tackle le Tour.  [more] 

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

 News
Stage 20 July 25, 2004
Stage 19 July 24, 2004
Stage 18 July 23, 2004
Stage 17 July 22, 2004
Stage 16 July 21, 2004
Stage 15 July 20, 2004
Stage 14 July 18, 2004
Stage 13 July 17, 2004
Stage 12 July 16, 2004
Stage 11 July 15, 2004
Stage 10 July 14, 2004
Stage 9 July 13, 2004
Stage 8 July 11, 2004
Stage 7 July 10, 2004
Stage 6 July 09, 2004
Stage 5 July 08, 2004
Stage 4: Team Time Trial July 07, 2004
Stage 3 July 06, 2004
Stage 2 July 05, 2004
Stage 1 July 04, 2004
Prologue July 03, 2004
Tour Preview July 02, 2004
Stage 18 June 23, 2004
Stage 17 June 22, 2004
 Tour de France Photos
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #7,
July 26
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #6,
July 22
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #5,
July 19
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #4,
July 14
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #3,
July 11
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #2,
July 9
[launch gallery]
2004 Tour Photo Gallery #1, July 62004 Tour Photo Gallery #1,
July 6
[launch gallery]

Lance Armstrong Foundation

Buy a yellow wristband emblazoned with Lance's motto, "Live Strong", and join Outside and NIKE in an effort to raise $6 million toward the Lance Armstrong Foundation's fight against cancer.  [more] 


2004 TOUR DE FRANCE
Prologue: July 03, 2004

Prologue: July 03, 2004
Tour Newcomer Leads the Charge


Fabian Cancellara wins the Tour prologue
Fabian Cancellara wins the Tour
prologue (Beth Schneider)

The 2004 Tour de France kicked off with a 3.8-mile prologue course through the streets of Liège, Belgium Saturday. In his first Tour, 23-year-old Fabian Cancellara of the Fassa Bortolo team took the stage in 6:50.94, while five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong came out firing, taking second place and winning the psychological battle of the prologue over rivals Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros), and Ivan Basso (CSC).

Ullrich posted a time of 7:07.40 (16th place), Hamilton came in at 7:08:83 (18th), Mayo posted a time of 7:11.51 (26th) and former Armstrong lieutenant Heras posted a time of 7:27.02 (104th).

Armstrong has won the prologue twice, in both 1999 and 2002. Although not considered a major point in the Tour, the prologue serves as a pace-setting opportunity for psychological victory.

José Ivan Gutierrez (Illes Balears-Banesto), Bradley Mc Gee, (FDJeux.com), and Thor Hushovd, (Crédit Agricole) rounded out the top five while Americans Bobby Julich (CSC) and George Hincapie, (U.S. Postal Service) placed ninth and tenth respectively.

The course is a flat, fast route through the city streets of Liège with two near dead-stop turns, a section over cobblestones and a run of highway running close to the Meuse River.

The big news off the bike concerned Australian Team Cofidis rider Matthew White, who broke his collarbone in Liège in a training ride Saturday before the prologue's start. He was ultimately replaced by Belgian rider Peter Farazijn. The blow to Cofidis came on the heels of the Friday announcement that British rider and Team Cofidis member David Millar admitted to a French judge that he had used the performance enhancing drug EPO, according to Agence France Press. This was one of the biggest blows to the cycling world in years. Millar, who finished second in last year's Paris prologue, was disqualified from the Tour de France and pulled out of the Athens Games in which he had hopes of winning a gold medal for the British Olympic team. Millar could be banned from the sport for as little as eight months to as long as a year.

The Tour de France resumes tomorrow with Stage 1 running from Liège to Charleroi, Belgium.


2004 BUYER'S GUIDE  
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