Wednesday's moment came during the stage when a group of nine riders, which included the American Bobby Julich, found themselves over ten minutes clear of the peloton.

Julich's presence rang the alarm bells for the favourites as he finished third in the Tour only three years ago, and could suddenly have found himself in a race-winning position.

He was best placed in the group to claim the yellow jersey and keep it in the Credit Agricole squad, of which he is a member along with Stuart O'Grady.

Blistering attack

The ONCE team from Spain and Lance Armstrong's US Postal team suddenly set a blistering pace on the front.

ONCE appeared to launch their counter-offensive in the feed zone which is not considered good form and drew criticism from riders like David Millar afterwards.

Nonetheless, the sheer force of the effort split the field to pieces and ensured a tough day of flat-out racing for everyone.

Within the space of an hour the advantage of nearly ten minutes was reduced to nothing. Julich's yellow jersey opportunity snatched from his grasp.

Fellow American Armstrong will be happy with that...but it remains to be seen how much that effort has taken out of his team and that of ONCE just 24 hours ahead of the team time trial.

We will not have long to wait.