Lance Armstrong may have taken something of a low-key role in the Tour’s pecking order after Saturday’s opening time-trial, but it is still a mistake to cross the seven-times Tour winner.

“Get the hell out of the way!” the sweat-streaked Texan snarled at hapless photographers after Sunday’s finish in Brignoles.

After the long preamble and today’s furnace conditions on the road, Armstrong’s re-introduction to the Tour is now complete. The good, bad and ugly memories of his seven-year reign will have come flooding back. Le Tour is hectic, hot, often claustrophobic and there are always far too many people crammed into too small a space after you’ve finished racing — even if most of them are only doing their job.

Armstrong may be cutting a more media-friendly jib towards the French than ever before, but his impatience with those who have irritated him is legendary among the press corps. And as his status grows, Mark Cavendish seems to be taking a leaf out of the Armstrong media training handbook.

In European cycling terms, "Cav" — still only 24 — is becoming something of a capo, to coin the Italian phrase used to describe those who boss the European peloton, partly through athletic prowess, partly through attitude.

After today’s emphatic win, a carefully phrased question regarding the durability of his team-mates in the baking heat, was met with a dismissive stare and a simple ‘No'. He also may — just perhaps — have been working on his own version of "The Look", the infamous thousand-mile stare with which Armstrong has often frozen out opponents.

Cavendish believes and incessantly proves he is the fastest rider over the final 250 metres. He makes his point whenever he can, both on his bike and in the press room. But cycling’s sprinters are like boxers entering the ring, and often seek to bolster their standing with pugilistic swagger. The difference with Cavendish is that he delivers, repeatedly, week in, week out.

Another Cavendish win seems inevitable in Monday’s stage, from Marseilles to La Grande Motte. Then there’s Perpignan, Barcelona, not to mention Vittel, Besancon, Aubenas and the Champs Elysees. At the moment, no other sprinter in the sport can hold a candle to the 24-year-old, which is perhaps why he is so extraordinarily sure of himself and why his sprint rivals have now become so demoralised.