The top riders in the Tour de France are right where they want to be after the opening weekend: in contention and in one piece.
That's an accomplishment, given the swirling winds and intermittent rain that caused several spills during the first leg, a flat, 129.6-mile route in and around this town in southern Netherlands."In the wind, with 200 riders - that's very dangerous," said 1993 world road race champion Lance Armstrong, who finished 154th Sunday, 34 seconds behind stage winner Frederic Moncassin of France.
The first stage win of his Tour de France career - and its accompanying time bonus - put Moncassin fourth overall, nine seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Alex Zulle of Switzerland.
After Zulle, last year's Tour runner-up, is a Who's Who of Tour favorites, each within seconds of each other. That includes, of course, Miguel Indurain, the Spaniard seeking an unprecedented sixth straight title in cycling's top event.
He stands sixth overall, 12 seconds behind Zulle.
Others right behind Zulle - and trailing by no more than 19 seconds - are 1994 Giro d'Italia winner Yevgeny Berzin, world road race champion Abraham Olano; Bjarne Riis, third in 1995; world No. 1 Laurent Jalabert; Olympic pursuit champion Chris Boardman; and Tony Rominger, second to Indurain in 1993.
They managed to navigate the roads and bridges of Den Bosch without serious mishaps despite the weather and the hundreds of thousands of spectators who lined the route, sometimes too closely. Their experience told them to play it safe.
"I didn't ride very fast because of the weather," said Moncassin, 27, who is with Boardman's Gan team. "It was also difficult because the public was everywhere in the streets.
Hernan Buenahora of Colombia was the only one of the riders involved in accidents who retired from the Tour. He broke a bone in his left wrist in a crash 24.8 miles from the finish and pulled out.
There were others who suffered in the tough conditions.
Italy's Luca Gelfi bled profusely after a crash left deep cuts in his hand, while France's Luc Leblanc had a concussion and temporarily lost consciousness when he slammed into the pavement.
Djamolidin Abdoujaparov, a top sprinter who's won eight Tour legs in the past, was able to continue after a hard spill, but finished 9:42 minutes behind Moncassin and dropped to 191st place in the overall standings.
Today's second stage was another relatively flat trek of 153.5 miles, starting in Den Bosch and taking the riders through Belgium and into France.