Lance Armstrong has been hinting at the good vibrations and sensations in his legs, but today, he laid to rest any doubt the world might have about his form, his fitness, or his resolve.

He annihilated almost all of his rivals for GC on a stage that didn’t promise to open up such huge time gapes.

He took 2.5 minutes out of Ullrich and Heras, one minute-plus out of Mayo, and over 3 minutes out of Tyler Hamilton, who had a very tough day on the roads to La Mongie.

If you’re one of Lance’s rivals in this year’s Tour, your only hope is that Lance has an off day -- and you have the best day of your life -- to close the deficit he opened up on today’s stage.