Lance Armstrong will feel extremely satisfied with his opening weekend of the 2100 miles Tour de France, as he looks back this Monday morning from third place overall and at his main rivals who have lost a few vital seconds to the winner of the past five Tours in the first 130 miles.

These early days of the three-week race serve only as indicators, but the Texan, who is being escorted away each day by his girlfriend, the rock singer Sheryl Crow, is showing that, at 32, age has not yet dulled his enthusiasm for the competition.

On Saturday, Lance Armstrong won the psychological battle with his main rivals when he finished second to Swiss youngster Fabian Cancellara in the near-four mile Prologue time trial in Liege. Importantly, the American gained 15 seconds on main rival, Jan Ullrich, and 16 on fellow American Tyler Hamilton.

Armstrong said Sunday, "I told all of the team to ride as fast as they could and we were rewarded with the team win at the prologue. I was pleased with the way I went, too."

The last time Armstrong finished second on the opening day (to Britain's David Millar) in 2000 by the exact same margin, he went on to win the race by six minutes and 2 seconds over Ullrich in Paris.

On Stage One, the rain made the 126-mile race from Liege to Charleroi an unpleasant affair, with a number of riders falling, including the infamous sprinter, Mario Cipollini, who rode well to finish safely in the main field but far away from the first place he usually gets when the pack fight out a finish.

Instead, Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu, who has not won a race since March, judged the finish perfectly and won ahead of Australian Robbie McEwen and Norwegian Thor Hushovd, with 178 riders given the same time.

Kirsipuu, who has won 119 races as a professional and four stage of the Tour since 1993, said, "It was so close, and normally in a headwind finish, Hushovd is so strong. I wasn't sure I'd won, but when I looked at the sad look on McEwen's face, I thought I had."

Cancellara, 23 and in his first Tour, deservedly retained his yellow jersey gained in the Prologue, while Hushovd, by virtue of a small time bonus, moved into second place pushing Armstrong down to third for the moment.

The rain made the journey through the Ardennes woods very slippery with riders falling on surfaces that became treacherous. Cancellara, who is not a candidate for final victory as he can not climb the high mountains yet, fought hard to keep the coveted yellow jersey by winning one four-second time bonus with 30 miles to go.

A long breakaway by German Jen Voigt (CSC), Janek Tombak (Estonia, Cofidis) Paolo Bettini (Italy, Quickstep), Bernhard Eisel (Austria, FDJ.com) and Frenchman Franck Renier (Brioches) shared all of the day's climbs, giving Bettini, the World Cup holder, an early lead in the King of the Mountains competition.

Eisel was embarrassed when he fell in the leading group while talking to his manager. It was a careless fall, touching another rider's wheel, and for a while there was concern that he had broken his collar bone. However, he finished 122nd and lost no time.

When the five were caught after leading for 75 miles, a new attack was launched immediately by Belgium's Marc Wauters (Rabobank) and Dane, Jakob Piil. Gaining almost two minutes, the catch was timed perfectly as the whole field swept them up with barely a mile to go to the line.

It has been a sad start for the record entry of 10 Australian riders which began when Matthew White crashed before the Prologue began, breaking his collarbone. Then, during the race, Prologue favorites Michael Rogers crashed, while last year's winner, Bradley McGee finished only fourth.

McGee's woes continued Sunday when he was dropped during the crash which involved Cipollini, but even though he took advantage of the help the Italian got from his team, he could not hold the pace and fell back to finish over six minutes behind.

McGee, a former Olympic medalist and world champion, is blaming a house move and the carrying of heavy furniture for damaging his pelvis. He may take the decision not to continue as he builds up for the Olympic Games, where he is favorite for the individual pursuit.

And, to end the unfortunate Australian tale, former national champion Nick Gates fell, hurting his knee, to limp home half an hour behind and only just inside the time limit to keep him in the race.