The first riders to have taken off appeared to be the lucky ones. Indeed they managed to cover the 22,5 kilometres of the day’s time-trial before the rain hit the road and troubled all the main favourites. Probably thanks to Mother Nature, Bradley Wiggins (CA), World and Olympic champion in pursuit clocked the fastest time for most of the day Indeed his excellent time of 27’05, shook the remaining riders of this 42nd Tour de l’Avenir. As Wiggins crossed the finish line, close to a hundred riders were still to start and the weather forecast looked extremely worrying.

Muller, Team CSC’s German rider, then hit the road. At the first time check, it looked rather obvious: he was looking very fast. This first impression was confirmed in the second part of the stage. Muller eventually clocked the winning time of 26’49. The German beat Wiggins and Reus (RB3). In the overall standing, Lars Bak (CSC), fourth of the day’s event, captured the yellow jersey he had lost back in Sassay. The CSC team looks, yet again, ready to conquer more glory.