LANCE ARMSTRONG will expect to be wearing his favourite colour, yellow, by this evening. Today’s 67.5-kilometre team time-trial will provide the platform for the American to take the lead in the Tour de France after he was usurped by a compatriot, David Zabriskie, of the CSC team, in Saturday’s opening time-trial.

Yesterday’s frenetic sprint finish here brought Tom Boonen, of Belgium, a win for the second successive day with Robbie McEwen, of Australia, relegated to the tailenders for an unseemly battle with his fellow countryman, Stuart O’Grady, as the leaders entered the final 100 metres.

On the 212.5km stage, from La Châtaigneraie to Tours, Armstrong remained in the wings as the speeding Boonen and Zabriskie, the race leader from Utah, took centre stage. However, Zabriskie acknowledges that his hold on the maillot jaune is tenuous. “It’ll be nice to keep it,” the 26-year-old said, “but two seconds on Lance isn’t a lot, so we’re going to have to go 100 per cent tomorrow.”

Zabriskie is nicknamed “Dave Zee” by the other Americans in the peloton in tribute to his zany attitude. After yesterday’s finish, he recounted a conversation with Armstrong during the race. “It was a little bit of ha, ha stuff,” Zabriskie said. “Lance said, ‘Are you enjoying it?’ and I said ‘Yes’, so then he said could he have a turn and I said ‘Sure, why not?’.”

Armstrong clearly enjoys Zabriskie’s humour, but the champion has serious matters on his mind this afternoon as he leads his Discovery Channel team’s pursuit of a third successive victory in the team time-trial. Support for his cause is coming from almost every quarter, even, unexpectedly, from within Jan Ullrich’s team. “Armstrong is just too strong,” Walter Godefroot, the T-Mobile team director, said.

Given his form so far, the possibility of Armstrong leading from the Loire Valley to the Champs Elysées seems very real. Yesterday, Eddy Merckx, the former Tour champion who is now Armstrong’s confidante, paid tribute to the Texan’s transformation from also-ran to champion.

“He was a young bull of a man, powerful, wild, too heavy for the big climbs, a typical rider for one-day races or flat stages,” Merckx said. “And he didn’t live just for his sport.

“There’s nothing wrong with a beer or two, but he didn’t always control himself. The cancer totally changed his whole life. Now everything he does is solely to contribute to his success.”

JAN ULLRICH IN THE SADDLE

“I’M LOOKING forward to the team time-trial. Both sprint stages have been good for me and for the team because we avoided all the falls. That’s really important. Now we will concentrate everything on the team time-trial because there is a lot at stake.

“We looked at the course last Wednesday before the Tour started and trained as a team on the route, so we are ready. Of course the other teams have all looked at it and CSC and Discovery are the big favourites for the stage win, but I’m convinced that we are going to do well and show that we have one of the best teams here.”