David Millar made a great start to his 2007 season when he took a narrow but convincing victory in the opening 4.7 kilometre hilly prologue time trial of Paris-Nice on Sunday afternoon. It was the first British stage win in the Course Au Soleil since Chris Boardman won the prologue of Paris-Nice back in 1999.
Despite his saddle coming a little loose on the false flat close to the summit, Millar produced a faultless performance on the short and hilly course in the Paris suburbs.He was a second slower than his team-mate Remmert Wielinga (who finally finished eighth) at the mid-way check point but held his nerve and tore down the highly technical descent to the finish, ending the course a second faster than former junior World road-race champion Roman Kreuzinger of Liquigas. France?s Sebastian Joly of Franciase des Jeux was third, two seconds further down.
Although more than 35 riders finished ten seconds or less behind Millar, Belgium's Tom Boonen was not amongst them. The Quick Step rider had a rough Saturday night with an upset stomach and on a course not made for him, finished 14 seconds down on Millar. Roger Hammond (T-Mobile), who admitted his main objective ?was to get round without any problems, this wasn?t a day for me.? finished 104th, 22 seconds down.
?I went over the course 14 times, I went over the last three corners eight times this morning. It was hard work.I had a little problem with my saddle, which was not ideal, but really the course was one of those old clichés, start fast, get faster and finish even faster. In a distance like this, though, you?ve either got it or you haven?t, there?s no no room for mistakes.?
Monday's first road stage from Cloyes-sur-le-Loir to Buzançais is over a distance of 186km and is expected to end in a bunch sprint but there is always a danger in the early tages of Paris-Nice that the flat and exposed roads will spark echelons and split the peloton.
3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0.02
4 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
7 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.04
9 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française Des Jeux
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