After what has been the most exciting race I have ever watched this early in a Tour de France, there is a virtual tie at the top of the standings between Fabian Cancellara, who has held yellow since the opening stage, and an unknown rider who we've never seen before named Lance Armstrong. By fractions of a second, Fabian "Tony Spartacus" Cancellara (pictured at right showing his margin of lead "00") kept the yellow jersey just ahead of Lance, but it was an absolutely wonderful stage today after a wonderful stage yesterday and we're just getting started. Team Astana -- the super-team of Lance, Levi Leipheimer, and pre-Tour favorite Alberto Contador - won today's team time trial in Montpelier by 18 seconds over Garmin-Slipstream and 40 seconds over third place Saxo Bank, which just so happened to be the exact margin that Cancellara held over Armstrong going into the stage. As a result, the race officials had to take hundreds of seconds into account from the first stage and Cance ended up on top. For today at least. Overall, it's looking like an Astana domination...
1. CANCELLARA Fabian 33 TEAM SAXO BANK 10h 38’ 07"
2. ARMSTRONG Lance 22 ASTANA 10h 38’ 07" + 00’ 00"
3. CONTADOR Alberto 21 ASTANA 10h 38’ 26" + 00’ 19"
4. KLÖDEN Andréas 23 ASTANA 10h 38’ 30" + 00’ 23"
5. LEIPHEIMER Levi 24 ASTANA 10h 38’ 38" + 00’ 31"
6. WIGGINS Bradley 58 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 10h 38’ 45" + 00’ 38"
7. ZUBELDIA Haimar 29 ASTANA 10h 38’ 58" + 00’ 51"
8. MARTIN Tony 76 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 10h 38’ 59" + 00’ 52"
9. ZABRISKIE David 59 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 10h 39’ 13" + 01’ 06"
10. MILLAR David 56 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 10h 39’ 14" + 01’ 07"
11. PAULINHO Sergio 26 ASTANA 10h 39’ 23" + 01’ 16"
12. VANDE VELDE Christian 51 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 10h 39’ 23" + 01’ 16"
13. LARSSON Gustav 34 TEAM SAXO BANK 10h 39’ 29" + 01’ 22"
14. MONFORT Maxime 77 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 10h 39’ 36" + 01’ 29"
15. KREUZIGER Roman 93 LIQUIGAS 10h 39’ 38" + 01’ 31"
16. ROGERS Michael 79 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 10h 39’ 39" + 01’ 32"
17. HINCAPIE George 74 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 10h 39’ 43" + 01’ 36"
18. POPOVYCH Yaroslav 27 ASTANA 10h 39’ 43" + 01’ 36"
19. NIBALI Vincenzo 95 LIQUIGAS 10h 39’ 43" + 01’ 36"
20. SCHLECK Andy 31 TEAM SAXO BANK 10h 39’ 48" + 01’ 41"
Yes, that's 2 through 5 for Team Astana, and Cancellara, no matter how much he is loved in the world of cycling, is not a mountain climber and will not be competing once the road turns upwards. So it's four Astana teammates -- all four with serious Tour de France repertoires -- in the top positions for the overall win. Their closest GC competitors are Christian ValdeVelde in 12th (1:16 back), Roman Kreuziger in 15th, Mick Rogers in 16th, Vincenzo Nibali in 19th, and Andy Schleck (my pre-race 2nd favorite) in 20th, 1:41 behind. Defending champion Carlos Sastre is 2:44 back, in 29th place, seemingly out of the race (although he could shock us in the mountains), while two-time defending 2nd place Cadel Evans is in 35th, 2:59 back. It seems like he is definitely out of this race.