For 127 of the best road cyclists in the world, it was five minutes of pain. For Americans Levi Leipheimer, Bobby Julich, George Hincapie, and Floyd Landis, it was a little less. For the American cycling peloton, veteran cycling announcer Paul Sherwen called it the Holy Grail they've been seeking. For the spectators, it was an instant classic.

It was the Prologue of the inaugural 2006 Amgen Tour of California, a 1.9-mile individual time trial from Pier 1 to Coit Tower.

The morning air was crisp and the streets glistened with the remnant sheen of Saturday's weather as riders warmed up on the course before the start. Taking a page out of Lance's playbook, Santa Rosa boy Levi Leipheimer pre-rode every inch of the course, including the staggering last 150 meters. Levi wasn't just warming up, he was studying, and memorizing, and visualizing. Levi has eyes for the prize this year, and comes into the Tour de Cali as one of the favorites.

Beginning promptly at 10:00 AM, riders dropped down the starting ramp in the shadow of the Ferry Building at one-minute intervals and started their quest for the top of Telegraph Hill. After building up a good head of steam heading west on the Embarcadero, riders turned up Stockton street for a 200-foot climb that got steeper and steeper until finally topping out at the finish line in Pioneer Park at the base of the Tower. Two hundred feet may not sound like much, but trust us . . .

In addition to the beautiful sunshine and stunning San Francisco backdrops, riders were treated to a rare wind-free day down along the Embarcadero, allowing them to attack the course instead of battling the wind. Because the course featured both a flat section and a steep climb, bike selection was not universal among the riders. Some rode pure time trial bikes with solid disc wheels and aero bars; others chose regular road bikes in order to better handle the heavy climb up Lombard Street to Telegraph Hill Road. When in doubt, go with speed--most of the fastest finishers rode time trial bikes.

For many riders, this was the first race of the season, the first chance to turn their pedals in anger.

The old man of the Tour, 40-year old Russian Discovery Channel rider Viatcheslav Ekimov (nope, that's not a typo, the dude is 40!), took the early lead with a time of 5:14, but as the morning wore on, the times began to drop. Some riders appeared to be suffering like animals coming up the final 150 meters, content just to finish, but many riders were out of the saddle and all over their machines as they drove to the top. The faster riders came blowing up the steep final 500 meters at speeds in excess of 15 MPH. Yeah, these guys are good.

But they are human too. Nathan O'Neill of the HealthNet team was turning in a very fast time until he crashed about 150 meters from the finish when his chain came off during a shift, sending him over the bars and into a barrier. Later in the race, a Team Toyota-United rider slipped a gear just after turning up Lombard Street from Stockton, came to a complete stop, and had to turn around and go back down the hill a few feet to build up enough momentum to regain his climb. Discovery Channel rider Tom "Tommy D" Danielson passed a laboring Olivier Kaisen of Team Davitamon Lotto with about five meters to go. Getting passed in an individual time trail is like getting tackled by the field goal kicker. Ouch.

The gallery of 200,000 spectators was itself a sight to see. The crowd was active, vocal, and visible, but not overwhelming. In fact, unlike the Mavericks Big Wave Contest earlier this month in Half Moon Bay, there were plenty of great spots to watch the race, especially on the shoulders of Telegraph Hill. There were places to stand and even to sit down and relax in the sun and watch the riders grind by one at a time. A fantastic spectator event. Even the Governator was there shaking hands and kissing babies before the race, and handing out the gold leader's jersey after the race. Suddenly everybody's a cycling fan.

No Tour de France devil at the race, but the Specialized Angel was on hand to grace us with her presence.

When it was all over, Leipheimer had snagged the golden jersey of leadership with a blistering 4:53, and Julich, Hincappie, and Landis also broke the five-minute mark. Taking the Prologue means Leipheimer will get to wear the leader's jersey when the Tour finishes tomorrow's Stage One in his hometown. Hometown boy makes good, and he's pretty stoked. "I'm so happy and so proud to be racing here in California" he gurgled while soaking up the well-deserved post-race spotlight.

On the whole, it was a red, white, and blue day, with the top five spots and six of the top ten spots going to Americans. Danish powerhouse Team CSC took the team lead, with the Discovery Channel team hot on their heels. Austrian rider Bernhard Kohl of the T-Mobile Team captured the King of the Mountains jersey.

The only thumbs down of the day goes to Tour sponsor Amgen for providing spectators with vinyl inflatable thunderstix--cycling is not really a thunderstix sport, but of course the Amgen-branded dunderstix aren't really about noisemaking are they.

For those that couldn't make Sunday's fun, Monday's Stage One runs from Sausalito to Santa Rosa; Stage Two rolls down the East Bay from Martinez to San Jose; and Stage Three features another individual time trial, this time in San Jose. Or you can check out the nightly highlights at 10:00 PM on ESPN2 with Le Tour vets Sherwen and Bob Roll.