Armstrong Finds the Going Tough on His Return to Cycling

Lance Armstrong had promised to attack in his comeback race, the Tour Down Under, but he showed little inclination to do so during today's first stage. In stifling heat and on roads not quite challenging enough to split the race, that wasn't surprising. But Johan Bruyneel, his long-time director, voiced doubts at the finish as to whether the seven-time Tour de France winner will be capable, at 37, of recapturing his best form.

The 140km stage, from the Adelaide suburbs into the undulating roads of the Barossa Valley, was "tough" admitted Armstrong. "That was the easy day?" he asked at the finish. "The course, combined with a temperature in the forties, meant it was tough. On the steep little hills I felt pretty strong, but now I'll have to see how the recovery is."

Armstrong finished 120th, close to the back of the 133-man peloton, as the German sprinter Andre Greipel claimed the stage and the race leader's jersey, as he did last year, on his way to winning four stages and the overall victory. "In the bunch sprints I get out of the way and let those big guys do their thing," said Armstrong, who was introduced to the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, at the finish.

Sean Yates, the British assistant director of Armstrong's Astana team, said that Armstrong had "taken up where he left off – every time we looked up we saw Lance near the front, surrounded by five team-mates". But Bruyneel's assessment was not quite so upbeat. "He's the same rider, the same person," the Team Astana director said, "but after today I think he'll realize that he needs races.

"You can train as hard as you like, but you can't simulate race conditions. There's a fast rhythm here. I think his base condition is very good; but he's three years older and we'll have to see if the motor is the same as before. In terms of his endurance, I have no doubts. Whether he has the power and speed, we'll find out." Armstrong maintained that the heat would be his enemy. "That dry heat affects performance a lot," he said. "There's no way you can perform at a high level. I went through 15 to 20 bottles."

The bunch sprint that decided the stage was notable not only for Greipel's victory, after a well-drilled lead-out from his Columbia team, but for a clash between Robbie McEwen's arm and a spectator's camera. The Australian rider, who won Sunday's Cancer Council Classic in Adelaide, was just unleashing his sprint, and leading Greipel, when he collided with the camera. Remarkably he managed to stay upright and finish fourth, his arm already swelling as he crossed the line.

"Some genius in the crowd decided they wanted to get an action photo and reached right out over the barriers with a really big camera," an angry McEwen said. "I saw it but couldn't do anything. It hit me straight on the forearm. It's broken the skin and I have a wound the shape of the camera lens."

McEwen, who was optimistic of continuing in the race, offered a memorable, if idiosyncratic, description of the moment of impact: "When you hit something at 70 kph it's like a golf swing at sixty per cent power hitting you in the arm like a baseball bat."