Lance Armstrong made a strong start to his bid to win a record sixth Tour de France, but had to settle for second place as Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara took the opening prologue stage in Liege, Belgium.
Fassa Bortolo rider Cancellara, who broke down in tears after seeing Armstrong fail to reach his time, took the stage in six minutes, 50.94 seconds.
Armstrong, riding for US Postal, was two seconds outside Cancellara's time while Germany's Jan Ullrich, many people's tip to end Armstrong's run this year, finished 15th in 7:07.40.
Jose Gutierrez of Spain was third, Australian Bradley McGee fourth and Norway's Thor Hushovd fifth.
Sligo's Mark Scanlon, the first Irish cyclist to take part in the Tour since Stephen Roche in 1993, made a solid start to his campaign.
The 23-year-old former world junior champion came home 13 seconds behind the leader to lie 52nd out of the 188 riders.