The team time trial has been a controversial event since its launch on the Tour de France in 1927 but it may finally play a decisive role in the race, thanks to Lance Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong comes back

With shorter individual time trials and fewer mountain finishes than in the past, four-times champion Armstrong does not have as many chances to seize the initiative.

Wednesday's test was a rare opportunity for the American, bidding for a record-equalling fifth victory, and he did not miss the opening.

Armstrong led the US Postal team to an impressive victory, completing the 69-km stage, ridden against a headwind, in one hour 18 minutes and 27 seconds, at an average speed of 52.772 kph.

The Texan also moved up into second place in the overall standings, one second behind team mate Victor Hugo Pena.

Aware that Wednesday's test between Joinville and St Dizier could be decisive, Armstrong and his team had planned things very carefully.

"We made a first reconnaissance in May, then went back to see the course yesterday and made a very detailed road book with all the curves, all the tricky parts," said US Postal team chief Johan Bruyneel.

INCREDIBLE PACE

"In our ideal script, we decided to take it easy at first and to concentrate on the last 20 km. We had kept the strong men for the last 20 km and it worked to perfection.

"We had five riders, Lance, Victor Hugo Pena, George Hincapie, Viatcheslav Ekimov and Floyd Landis as the team's engines.

"The speed went up at an incredible pace. We were 14 seconds behind at first and we took 35 seconds off the ONCE team in the last 20 km," Bruyneel added.

To help Armstrong's plans further, the yellow jersey went to his team mate Pena, easing some of the pressure on the 31-year-old as the leader can waste precious rest time after the stage in podium ceremonies, doping controls and interviews.

Wednesday's result, for once, brings some significance and respectability to the Tour team time trial, a controversial event for both riders and fans.

Tour founder Henri Desgrange created the event in 1927 because he hated massive sprints and felt the best riders waited too patiently for the mountains to make their move.

Between 1927 and 1929, all the flat stages were organised under a formula named "separate starts", meaning each team started separately. The team time trial was born.

Desgrange succeeded in putting an end to sprint finishes but the decision resulted in a lapse in public interest for the race.

Team time trials were reintroduced and dropped periodically from the 1950s onwards, returning most recently in 2000.

The team effort is one of the most spectacular and demanding disciplines in road cycling, but some find it boring, others claim it favours strong teams at the expense of smaller ones.

The general feeling used to be that it did not make a big difference for the outcome of the race -- that could change this year.

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