Tour De France, 2007, Stage 1: Sprinters Ready to Motor

If it's 11 a.m. Sunday in London, it's stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de France, and the race's best sprinters are happy.

That's the way first week of the Tour traditionally begins. The full field gets out on the road, stretches their collectivee legs for several hours and the peloton's most powerful riders find their way to the front in the waning few hundred meters.

It shouldn't be any different this year. The second and last day of this year's race in England will begin at the finish line of Saturday's prologue. A processional will unfold as it crisscrosses the River Thames en route past historic monoliths of London, St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tower of London.

The stage is scheduled to begin at exactly 11 a.m. (noon in France) at the prime meridian (longitude 0 degrees) in Greenwich. The 203-kilometer (126.8-mile) route includes three category four climbs, the least severe climbing ranking.

For the most part, the stage will feature rolling terrain and along the way riders will pass the 1,000 year-old Rochester Castle and progress past the county of Kent via Tunbridge Wells to the finish in Canterbury.

It's been 13 years since a Tour road stage was held in England, and on the last occasion the day ended on a hilly circuit. Spain's Francisco Cabello rode to a 33-second solo victory in the stage from Dover to Brighton.

A solo win is always a possibility, but it will be unlikely this year considering the course's relatively flat profile. And if the race progresses as predicted, the winner will likely emerge from a group that includes veteran sprinters Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto), Tom Boonen (Quick-Step-Innergetic) of Belgium and Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) of Norway, among others.

It's unlikely any of the six Americans competing in this year's Tour will be in the mix for a stage win. But Chris Horner (Bend, Ore.) and Fred Rodriguez (Emeryville, Calif.) will be working for McEwen and looking to escort the sport's fastest accelerator toward the front of the group for his final surge. The stage should take around five hours to complete.

A fast first day is usually the norm, depending on weather conditions and crashes are always feasible particularly as as a massive group of riders approach the finish, all seeking to help the designated sprinter of their respective teams.