Australian Stuart O'Grady heads towards the start to prepare for the individual time trial that traditionally opens the Tour

Austrian skiier Hermann Maier is invited to ride first in the prologue to celebrate the 100th Tour de France

By the time the first 50 riders have completed the 6.5km time trial course, US Postal's George Hincapie is the early leader

German Michael Rich, 2002 world time trial championships runner-up, takes over the lead with a time of 7 mins 37.06 secs

Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia of the Euskatel team causes a surprise by recording a new fastest time - 7min 28.26secs

1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich pushes hard all the way to the line to finish only fractions behind Zubielta

Australian sprinter Brad McGee grabs the yellow jersey for the Francaise des Jeux team with an impressive sprint

Britain's David Millar is set to take the lead until a chain problem - he ends just eight hundredths of a second behind McGee

Four-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong surprisingly struggles in the prologue, finishing 13th, seven seconds off the pace

McGee will be the wear the yellow jersey in the first full stage of the 2003 centenary Tour de France on Sunday