Many riders might be unsatisfied with a 60th place finish in the Tour prologue, but not Francaise des Jeux's Bernhard Eisel. "It didn't' go bad, I'm very satisfied with the result," he said. "Maybe I could have ridden five seconds faster, but that doesn't really mean anything." It could have been worse for the Austrian, as he narrowly avoided a crash. "I was totally concentrated and had my head down. I oriented myself on the barricade. Then suddenly the barricade had a bend in it, and I went around it on the straight street. Fortunately I was able to quickly correct myself."
Eisel is not a time-trial specialist, but a sprinter, and therefore looking forward to Sunday's stage. "I want to be in the sprint in the finale. But I won't know how good my form really is until then," he said.
