page_title: 1998 Tour de France
section_title: Early stages in Ireland
hierarchical_section_title: 1998 Tour de France / Race overview / Early stages in Ireland
caption_attribution_description: The route of the prologue stage of the 1998 Tour de France. This map was created from OpenStreetMap project data, collected by the community. This map may be incomplete, and may contain errors. Don't rely solely on it for navigation.
context_page_description: The 1998 Tour de France was the 85th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,875 km race was composed of 21 stages and a prologue. It started on 11 July in Ireland before taking an anti-clockwise route through France to finish in Paris on 2 August. Marco Pantani of Mercatone Uno–Bianchi won the overall general classification, with Team Telekom's Jan Ullrich, the defending champion, and Cofidis rider Bobby Julich finishing on the podium in second and third respectively.
  The general classification leader's yellow jersey was first awarded to Chris Boardman of the GAN team, who won the prologue in Dublin. Following a crash by Boardman on stage 2 that caused his withdrawal, Ullrich's sprinter teammate Erik Zabel took the race lead. He lost it the next stage to Casino–Ag2r's Bo Hamburger, who took it after being in a breakaway. The day after, the yellow jersey switched to another rider from the same breakaway, Boardman's teammate Stuart O'Grady, who took vital seconds from time bonuses gained in intermediate sprints. He held it for a further three stages, until pre-race favourite Ullrich won stage 7's individual time trial, moving him into the overall lead.
context_section_description: Chris Boardman covered the 5.6 km (3.5 mi) route of the prologue time trial fastest with a time of 6:12.36 minutes, gaining his third Tour prologue victory. Olano finished second, four seconds slower. Third to sixth place went to Jalabert, Julich, Moreau, and Ullrich, all five seconds behind Boardman. Marco Pantani meanwhile had not bothered to preview the course and finished 181st out of the 189 starters, 48 seconds slower than the winning time. Boardman was awarded the yellow and green jerseys as the leader of both the general and points classification respectively.
  Tom Steels outsprinted Erik Zabel in stage 1's bunch sprint finish. Steels came to the Tour with the full support of his Mapei–Bricobi squad for the sprints, unlike Zabel's Team Telekom who were focused on Ullrich's pursuit for overall victory. Mario Cipollini (Saeco Macchine per Caffè), a favourite for the stage win, was held up 8 km (5.0 mi) from the end when he was involved in a crash with his teammate, Frederic Moncassin. Steels took the lead of the points classification from Boardman, who retained the overall lead. Steels's teammate Stefano Zanini was the first of a seven-rider breakaway group to reach the summit of the Wicklow Gap mountain pass, claiming the Tour's first available mountains classification points and the first polka-dot jersey.
  Unlike other general classification favourites, who always rode at the front of the peloton (main group), Pantani spent the first days of the Tour at the back, surrounded by his teammates. This almost cost him, when during stage 2, which was raced largely on the wide N25 road, crosswinds split the field into several echelons. Pantani was caught out and only came back when yellow jersey-wearer Boardman crashed heavily. In the aftermath, the peloton slowed down, allowing Pantani to catch back up. Boardman meanwhile hit his head badly on a stone wall beside the road. He was taken to hospital and had to abandon the Tour. Mapei–Bricobi rider Ján Svorada was involved in a crash with 15 km (9.3 mi) to go, but was able to recover and win the bunch sprint finish. Zabel, who before the stage stood in eighth position overall, had collected enough time bonuses in the intermediate sprints to take the yellow jersey.
caption: The 5.6 km (3.5 mi) route of the prologue time trial around the streets of Dublin, won by Chris Boardman (GAN)
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