Everyone was worried about this stage and rightly so. The Tour hasn't been over the cobblestones since 1985, but in previous years (namely 1979 and 1980), big names had lost serious time over the "pave,” nicknamed "the hell of the north.”

These old cobbled roads were originally laid down in Napoleonic times, and considering the start town today, you could say that Iban Mayo met his Waterloo ! He ended up losing big time and maybe all hopes of winning the Tour this year.

Mayo was, I thought, very unlucky because it was not a physical defeat that he suffered. He was in a crash less than 10 kilometers from the cobbled road of Hornaing -- a long section at 2.8 kms in length. The pace was kept high by all the contenders battling to get onto the stoned section near the front of the pack, which condemned Mayo to never see the front again.

A loss of almost four minutes is a serious deficit after just three days of racing -- but that is the name of the game. By tomorrow night, I would expect to see Mayo, a serious pre-race favorite, distanced by more than six minutes -- as his already weakened team have never ridden too well in the team time trial in the past.

None of the other contenders had any real problems, but Armstrong and his "Posties" showed that they have studied this course intricately and are prepared for anything. It was Lance's cowboys who did most of the damage over the cobbles and I expect them to be ready for tomorrow.

The rendezvous tomorrow for the team time trial should create even wider gaps.