Contador wins Critérium du Dauphiné prologue TT

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Alberto Contador (Astana) showed a flash of his excellent form by the Critérium du Dauphiné by winning the 6km prologue around Evian-les-Bains but quickly reiterated that he is not looking for overall victory as he keeps his eye on July and the bigger prize of the Tour de France.

Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) stunned the big favourites and looked to have won the time trial with a time of 8:36 but then Contador blasted home to beat the young American by two seconds. Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) was third at five seconds, with Britain's Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) fourth at 10 seconds.

Contador was almost embarrassed to have won his first race since riding Liege-Bastogne-Liege over a month ago. He insisted in a pre-race press conference that he was not specifically targeting overall success at the Critérium du Dauphiné and said that he would let the race lead go during Monday's 191km first road stage from Evian-les-Bains to Saint-Laurent-du-Pont.

"The downhill was pretty technical. This is my first competition since I took a break after Liège-Bastogne-Liège. I’m here to prepare for the Tour, it remains my main goal this week. Tomorrow, I’ll be happy to give the yellow jersey to another rider. I’ll ride more cautiously than at the Tour de France in three weeks time from now."

The climb was the key

The 6km time trial course followed a loop over a hill behind Evian-les-Bains with the false flat on the top of the short climb, the key to a winning ride. Whoever had something left in their legs to keep a high cadence and high speed on the false flat managed to gain time and a place in the top ten.

Contador got it perfect. Using his super high cadence, he blasted up the climb, kept it going on the false flat and then dived down the descent. He carefully but precisely cut each corner, gaining his winning edge on Van Garderen.

The 21 year-old American has shown consistently good form this spring, first in the Tour of Turkey in April, then while working for teammate Michael Rogers at the Amgen Tour of California and now riding for himself at Critérium du Dauphiné. It will be fascinating to see what he can do against the likes of Contador in the next seven days.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were some bigger names off the pace. David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) was only 13th at 15 seconds, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) was 35th at 24 seconds. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) was back in action after the Achilles heel problems that wrecked his spring Classics campaign but did not push it and was 50th at 29 seconds. Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo) was also back after injury and finished 77th at 34 seconds.

Contador said he will let the race leader's yellow jersey go but also pulled on the special green points, jersey, the polka-dot climber's jersey. Thanks to top ten placings by Van Garderen and Patrick Gretsch, HTC-Columbia leads the team standings going into Monday's 191km stage one from Evian-les-Bains to Saint-Laurent-du-Pont.

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