Lance Armstrong began day one of his farewell Tour de France in familiar style on Saturday by crushing longtime rival Jan Ullrich and other leading challengers.
He leads Alexandre Vinokourov by 51 seconds, Ullrich by 66, and Ivan Basso by 84 after the fastest time trial in Tour history.
"I was hungry today," Armstrong said. "I didn't come here to ride a retirement race. I'm here to win and to show the world I'm committed to this race."
The message was received loud and clear by almost everyone.
David Zabriskie, an American rider, beat Armstrong by two seconds in his Tour debut.
"I never thought this would happen," Zabriskie said.
Neither did Ullrich, who started a minute ahead of Armstrong, and was overtaken by the six-time defending champion.
"The feeling of being passed by Lance is not good," the German said.
Ullrich won the Tour in 1997 while Armstrong was beating cancer, and finished runner-up five times -- three to Armstrong. Ullrich entered the Tour looking leaner and fitter than for years but he failed to see imminent danger when he crashed into the back of his team car on Friday, cutting his neck near his jugular vein.
Ironically, Ullrich does not usually scout out time trial routes, but decided to this time. Agonizingly, he stayed out longer because he felt so good. He will not need reminding that the accident would not have happened if he'd joined his teammates back at the hotel.
"He's arguably lucky to be in the race today," said Armstrong. "It could have an effect, up to 35-40 seconds on his time."
Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's team director, expanded.
"I'm sure Jan did not wake up this morning with good sensations," Bruyneel said. "When you go through a window at high speed it must have an effect. Not for the first two or three hours perhaps, but the next day and the day after."
Armstrong was honest enough to admit overtaking Ullrich was a thrill.
"You can't lie. That's a good feeling," Armstrong said. "A lot has been said about Jan but there's no hatred, there's no hard feelings."
The prospects do not look good for Ullrich. He has little time to recover ahead of Tuesday's team time trial, where further time loss could prove decisive as he is not strong in the mountains. Ultimately, his T-Mobile team might turn to Vinokourov as their No. 1 hope to topple Armstrong.
The Kazakhstan rider should be able to stay with Armstrong in the climbs. Last month, he upstaged Armstrong by 37 seconds up the daunting Mont Ventoux ascent at the Dauphine Libere race.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Zabriskie covered the 19km course from Fromentine to the marshy island of Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile in 20 minutes, 51 seconds, riding at an average 54.67kph (33.98mph). That beat the time trial record in 1989 by another American, Greg Lemond.
"I was too young when Lemond was around," said Zabriskie. "I didn't follow cycling then."
Zabriskie switched from Armstrong's camp to Team CSC. He won another time trial at the Giro d'Italia in May.
"We just witnessed the birth of a real champion for the time trial event," said his teammate and fellow American, Bobby Julich. "He just creamed everybody."
Today's flat stage is a 181.5km trek through western France from Challans to Les Essarts. Armstrong's teammates will keep away from trouble as sprint stages can be dangerous.
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