Alberto Contador, the number one favorite for the 2011 Tour de France, lost 1 minute and 20 seconds on the race's opening stage today, conceding more than twice his margin of victory to Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) in last year's edition. The traditional hectic opening week of the race claimed the Spaniard as a victim this time, with a pile-up inside 10 kilometers from the finish splitting the peloton in two.
While Contador managed to stay upright during the incident, the crash saw riders strewn across the entire road, with the chaos delaying those behind as riders struggled nervously to find and untangle their machines.
"It was a difficult day," Contador explained after the stage. "There was some tension [at the time of the crash] and we were trying to keep to the front [of the peloton]."
At that time I wasn't badly placed, but the road was very wide and it had many riders [across]," he said.
The peloton was in full flight as the finish atop the Mont des Alouettes began to loom on the horizon, when a spectator inched out onto the road just far enough to clip an Astana rider's handlebar to set off what was to be a violent chain reaction.
"I was very close to the front of the peloton," Contador explained, "but the fall was in front of me and although I managed to stop in time, I had to get through the bikes [on the pavement] as [fast as] I could.
When I could start [to ride] again the [front] group was already far away," he lamented.
Through all the chaos, the Saxo Bank leader was fortunate to have his key lieutenant Richie Porte as well as Matteo Tosatto with him in the group. The Australian and Italian duo gave everything they had to the chase trying to minimize the damage for Contador and, with help from the Euskaltel Euskadi squad, were able to keep the gap down to under a minute and a half.
Despite a tough start to this year's Tour, Contador's morale remains high. He acknowledged that today wasn't his day, but reminded everyone that there is still plenty of racing left before they reach Paris.
"Today I had bad luck, but the Tour is long," he said. "I'm optimistic and motivated, which is what is important."
Tomorrow's team time trial will be a big day for the defending champion. He will hope Porte recovers well so his engine can help keep Contador's deficit to his main rivals at a minimum.
"There are other teams that might have a better time than us, teams that are more prepared, but I hope that the differences are not too large because otherwise, together with the situation today, it would make things complicated," Contador admitted.
The question on everyone's mind is just how much the Saxo Bank leader will have left in his tank after a dominating overall victory in the Giro d'Italia just over a month ago. He finished the race's final test against the clock in an impressive third place despite a celebratory final kilometer to the line. If his form is back to that level, his rivals will have a difficult time dealing with the flying Spaniard once the race hits the mountains, and today's loss would then be deemed inconsequential.