and welcome to the VeloNews.com live coverage of Paris-Nice, the "race to the sun," the traditional start of the European road season.

It's business as usual at the start of Paris-Nice despite a contentious week of political in-fighting between the UCI and ASO. Cycling has an incredible ability to shrug off adversity and get down to the business of racing bikes. Be it doping scandals, power struggles or other calamities, the power of simply getting on with it seems to the carry the day. That's the sense here in Amilly for the start of the 4.6km opening prologue course. Power struggles be damned - everyone here just wants to race their bikes.
the day. That's the sense here in Amilly for the start of the 4.6km opening prologue course. Power struggles be damned - everyone here just wants to race their bikes.

Slipstream-Chipotle has high expectations for the eight-day race. The team earned an important wild-card bid that seems to bode well for their chances to race the Tour de France later this summer. The team comes with David Millar looking to do well in the overall. Euro veterans Christian Vande Velde and Christophe Laurent will be there to back him up while young guns such as Trent Lowe and Lucas Euser will be in the hunt for stages. Danny Pate and Thomas Peterson will be looking to sneak into breakaways as Slipstream aims to liven up the race and generate more heat with ASO to snag an elusive Tour bid.

"The riders just want to race," said Johnn Weltz, director of Slipstream-Chipotle. "They cannot let these fights distract them from racing. Everyone knew it was going to be a big blowup before the race. The riders shouldn't be caught in the middle like this. It's unfair to them. David (Millar) and Christian (Vande Velde) shouldn't be told they might not be able to race later just because they're here. That's wrong."

riders through the course, the top five times were largely established early in the day:

1.Markel Irizar (Euskaltel) -5:33
2. William Bonnet (Credit Agricole), at 0:02
3. Danny Pate (Slipstream, at 0:022
4. Karsten Kroon (CSC), at 0:04
5. Trent Lowe (Slipstream), at 0:05

Light rain. Mostly cloudy. Cool, Breezy. Temperature of 10°C. Winds 30km SSW. Humidity will be 76% with a dewpoint of 4° and comfort level of 6°C. There is a 39% chance of precipitation... of course, that 39% is now at 100%.

The rain has eased up a bit and the roads look to be drying out at this point. That could result in faster times for the top riders who are going to wrap up the final hour of the prologue.

The remaining riders on the start list:

MCCARTNEY Jason - 2:04 p.m.
LLOYD Matthew - 2:05 p.m.
ALBASINI Michael - 2:06 p.m.
BONO Matteo - 2:07 p.m.
CHARTEAU Anthony - 2:08 p.m.
REBELLIN Davide - 2:09 p.m.
CURVERS ROY - 2:10 p.m.
VANDEVELDE Christian - 2:11 p.m.
KNEES Christian - 2:12 p.m.
GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo - 2:13 p.m.
STEEGMANS Gert - 2:14 p.m.
ARRIETA Jose Luis - 2:15 p.m.
GESINK Robert - 2:16 p.m.
MINARD Sébastien - 2:17 p.m.
KNAVEN Servais - 2:18 p.m.
SPRICK Matthieu - 2:19 p.m.
PASSERON Aurélien - 2:20 p.m.
GILBERT Philippe - 2:21 p.m.
ZUBELDIA Haimar - 2:22 p.m.
GERRANS Simon - 2:23 p.m.
JULICH Bobby - 2:24 p.m.
VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen - 2:25 p.m.
KREUZIGER Roman - 2:26 p.m.
GAVAZZI Francesco - 2:27 p.m.
SANCHEZ Luis-Leon - 2:28 p.m.
STAMSNIJDER Tom - 2:29 p.m.
VEELERS Tom - 2:30 p.m.
MILLAR David - 2:31 p.m.
GRIVKO Andriy - 2:32 p.m.
MOREAU Christophe - 2:33 p.m.
GARATE Juan Manuel - 2:34 p.m.
NOCENTINI Rinaldo - 2:35 p.m.
ELIJZEN Michiel - 2:36 p.m.
CHAVANEL Sylvain - 2:37 p.m.
GREIPEL André - 2:38 p.m.
CLEMENT Stef - 2:39 p.m.
GOMEZ MARCHANTE Jose Angel - 2:40 p.m.
VAUGRENARD Benoît - 2:41 p.m.
ANTON Igor - 2:42 p.m.
HUSHOVD Thor - 2:43 p.m.
MC GEE Bradley- 2:44 p.m.
EVANS Cadel - 2:45 p.m.
BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo - 2:46 p.m.
CUNEGO Damiano- 2:47 p.m.
PEREIRO SIO Oscar - 2:48 p.m.
SCHUMACHER Stefan - 2:49 p.m.

who finished second last year is on the road. The roads are still wet, but the Gerolsteiner rider is really powering the course and he looks like he's willing to take some chances out there.

is on route. He's one we'll be keeping track of.

with the rain. Rebellin is facing a headwind and the rain has picked up as he heads to the finish.

finishes with a 5:55, well out of the top 30.

finishes in 5:58.11. This is a sure sign that the weather has really affected performances as the day goes on. Riders are surely being more cautious on the turns and, as you can see from the map to the right there, there are plenty of those.

Davide Rebellin just said, "The course is hard enough and I am feeling pretty good, but it's more of a specialist's course. I didn't want to crash today and take unnecessary risks. I don't know if I am in top form yet to try to win. Mont Ventoux will be the big decider. I would like to win a stage and maybe a good placing in the GC. We'll see how it shakes out."

Gert Steegmans finished just out of the top 10, with a 5:41. He's the first rider in quite a while to finish even close to the top of the results.

1.Markel Irizar (Sp), Euskaltel -5:33
2. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole, at 0:02
3. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstream, at 0:022
4. Karsten Kroon (Nl), CSC, at 0:04
5. Trent Lowe (Aus), Slipstream, at 0:05

the CSC rider is now on the road. He's won Paris-Nice before, but he is being very careful out there today. We doubt we'll see him topping the results today.

Phillipe Gilbert (FDJ) finishes with a time of 5:49. He didn't break the top 30, another sign that top contenders are really affected by the conditions out there.

finishes in 5:44, which is good enough for 19th and puts him among the best of the late starters today.

Slipstream's David Millar is on his way. We'll see how he does. Under most circumstances, you'd have to consider him to be one of the favorites.

Is on the road.

may have lucked out. The rain has eased off, as has the wind.

finishes with a time of 5:39.97. That's good enough for seventh and the top-five list remains intact.

slips in for fourth, the first guy to break the top-five for more than an hour.

finishes well out of contention, in 67th place.

Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd is on the road. He's another talented prologue rider.

Here's another rider worth watching. The rain has eased off a bit, so he may turn in a strong performance. We'll see soon.

is on the road. He's going to be a strong contender here at Paris-Nice, but not considered to be one of the world's best time trialists.

Sets a new top time! 5:28 and he's on top of the leader board. Finally, someone breaks Irizar's two-hour hold on the top spot.

finishes with the third-best time of the day, with a 5:33. Now, let's see how his fellow Aussie, Cadel Evans does.

finishes with a 5:45, which is the 34th best of the day.

With Stefan Schumacher riding, all riders have left the start house.

finishes with a 6:01, not even in the top 100.

the official winner of the 2006 Tour de France, finishes with a 5:47.

the last rider finishes with a 5:33, nudging McGee out of third, so Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd is the winner of the prologue time trial at the 66th edition of Paris-Nice.

Stay tuned for results, photos and a complete race report from VeloNews European correspondent, Andrew Hood.

Results - Prologue

1. Thor Hushovd (N), Credit Agricole, 4.4km in 5:28 (50.487kph)
2. Markel Irizar (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 0:04
3 .Stefan Schumacher (G), Gerolsteiner, at 0:05
4. Bradley McGee (Aus), CSC, at 0:05
5. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole, at 0:06
6. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 0:06
7. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Liquigas, at 0:07
8. Andriy Grivko (Ukr), Milram, at 0:08
9. Karsten Kroon (Nl), CSC, at 0:08
10. Trent Lowe (Aus), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 0:09