American David Zabriskie was the unexpected winner of the opening stage of the Tour de France after an amazing ride in a 19km time trial in the Vendee region. Lance Armstrong, finished just two seconds behind. Lance passed Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso on the difficult and wind-swept road from Fromentine to Noirmoutier-en-I'lle, taking a minute out of the German and from Ivan Basso.
It was however a difficult start for Lance who is bidding for a record shattering seventh-straight Tour win. Lance sliped and lost his footing at the race start, but amazingly made up for that time loss by an incredible show of spead, determination and strength while steadily chasing down Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, who had started a minute earlier.
With barely 15km of the Tour completed, Ullrich - who has been talking up his hopes for this year - had to watch Armstrong rip right past him like it was sunday bike ride and you were passing a slow riding family of four. This clearly had to deal a significant psychological blow. Ouch!
That being said let me allow Lance to speak for himself in his humble and sincere manner. "When I saw I was making it back on Jan, I told myself I was not doing too bad," said Armstrong.
"It's not a victory for me to overtake Jan. He had a crash on Friday in training, but it made me realise I was in good form.
