The port of Marseilles knows all about the perils of making the wrong choice of leader.
Go back a couple of millennia and the fledgling trading post lost out on future prosperity by throwing its support behind Pompey the Great instead of the ultimately triumphant Julius Caesar.
As the Tour de France prepares to leave what is now France’s third largest city on Monday and head into the gutsy marshlands of the Camargue, cycling’s premier event shows that some ancient dilemmas still resonate.
The uneasy truce that exists within the Astana team, where seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong has given his tacit agreement to play second fiddle to chosen leader Alberto Contador, has held through the first two days of this exhausting slog toward Paris…Â Details
Mark Cavendish snatched his first Tour de France green jersey thanks to his stage win in Brignoles on Sunday and made it clear he could thank team adviser Erik Zabel for it.
The Briton won the first mass sprint of this Tour, having had to wait five days last year for the first of his four stage victories.
As a result, in 2008 he was never really in a position to go for the points qualification, finally won by Spain’s Oscar Freire.
“The green jersey is a big goal for any sprinter and it’s beautiful and emotional to wear it,†said Cavendish.
To take it all the way to Paris is another matter but the Manx can count on the very best adviser in his Team Columbia — Zabel who won the green jersey six times… Details
Lance Armstrong’s most fervent supporters and those who love to hate him were in full agreement on one point before the start of the Tour de France.
The consensus: That the uneasy balance of power within the Astana team that has cast Armstrong in a supporting role simply could not last.
The detractors claim Armstrong is too arrogant to play second fiddle to anyone. His fans insist he is simply too determined and talented to have his ability constricted by playing nursemaid to teammate and Tour favorite Alberto Contador.
Both camps, with their polar reasoning for the same outcome, could still be proven correct. Yet Saturday’s opening time trial stage … Details
 Swiss Fabian Cancellara snatched the Tour de France yellow jersey with a smashing victory in the opening time trial on Saturday, while seven-times champion Lance Armstrong made a respectable return to the race he used to dominate.
Hot favorite and 2007 champion Alberto Contador of Spain was second, 18 seconds behind Cancellara. Briton Bradley Wiggins was third, 19 seconds off the pace.
Contador, who was named Astana leader by team manager Johan Bruyneel, lived up to expectations and stamped his authority on the squad with a solid performance.
Neither German Andreas Kloeden, fourth, nor Americans Levi Leipheimer and Armstrong …Â Details