This has been an excellent opening to the Tour. Belgium has turned out in tens of thousands to support the event. And apart from the terrible bad luck for the Australians, the race has gone better than could have been envisaged for some riders.

Now we have the first ever Norwegian leader of the race in Thor Hushovd. While Aussie Robbie McEwen is showing how different winning a sprint in the Tour is, to winning one in the Giro d'Italia. I suspect it is all about priorities and Alessandro Petacchi had to be on form in Italy. It will take him a while (along with Mario Cipollini) to become competitive, but he will, I assure you.

For now, McEwen is king of his castle and he will try again tomorrow as his fan club will be out in force in Gerrardsbergen. He is very popular in Belgium as he lives only two miles from Gerrardsbergen.

It has been a great start for Lance Armstrong and it is very important that his team hold onto the team lead until the team time trial, as this will give them a big advantage for time checks when they start last of the 21 squads. Remember, they won this stage last year and set Lance up for his fifth win overall.