Armstrong's Return
By Bob Roll

Lance Armstrong made a solid return to Le Tour de France in the stage 1 time trial. 

Although we have become accustomed to Lance being in dominant form at the start of any Tour I think he is right in the thick of the action with the other gc contenders. After all, Lance  was faster than last year's winner Carlos Sastre as well as Denis Menchov,and Andy Schleck.

All in all, I would give Lance an 8 out of 10 rating for the stage. The biggest headline however belongs to Lance's teammate Alberto Contador who finished 2nd on the stage and was far faster than any of the other overall contenders. This presents team Astana with a tough dilema and Lance with a challenge of his own.  

Lance may need to decide what role within the team he will play before he is ready to make his own attacks. The Tour has just begun but the real racing is is still on a distant horizon. This is going to be a great race every single day of Le Tour and Lance will be ready when the hard stages bite your backside!