Armstrong on the attack

Lance Armstrong was involved in two unsuccessful breakaways before finishing 45th in stage two of the Tour Down Under.

American briefly hits the front as comeback gathers pace

Lance Armstrong finished 45th in the second stage of the Tour Down Under, 13 seconds behind winner Allan Davis. The Texan, making his comeback after more than three years in retirement, took part in two unsuccessful breakaways during the 145-kilometre route through rural South Australia to Stirling, half-an-hour outside the state capital Adelaide. "I feel OK, but it was very hard," said Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer before winning the Tour de France seven times in a row from 1999-2005. "Attacking on the hills wasn't the smartest thing to do. "It felt pretty good. It's going to take a while to adapt to race speed and today proved that. "The long drags uphill were never my long suit and when you get into the race and it's fast and guys are strong it's a suffer-fest.

Pain

"But I like to suffer, although it sounds weird." Armstrong, 37, was involved in an 11-rider breakaway and then attacked again in the company of Australian Jack Bobridge, a rider 18 years his junior. On both occasions he was swiftly hauled back by the main bunch but nevertheless fulfilled a pre-race promise to be close to the front of the race and to take an opportunity when it presented itself. "It's fun to be at the front of the race and as they say over here (in Australia), to give it a twist, to give it a crack," he added. Davis also leads the general classification by three seconds over first-stage winner Andre Greipel of Germany. Armstrong is 23 seconds behind in 68th place with four stages remaining. Stage Two result
1 Allan Davis (Aus/Quick Step) 3hrs 46mins 25secs
2 Graeme Brown (Aus/Rabobank) at same time
3 Martin Elmiger (Swi/AG2R La Mondiale) at 0.02
4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus/Team Saxo Bank) at same time
5 George Hincapie (USA/Team Columbia-High Road) at 0.04
6 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa/Caisse D'Epargne) at same time
7 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita/Lampre-NGC) at same time
8 Tom Leezer (Ned/Rabobank) at same time
9 Mickael Buffaz (Fra/Cofidis) at same time
10 Andre Greipel (Ger/Team Columbia-High Road) at same time General classification
1 Allan Davis (Aus/Quick Step) 7hrs 31mins 42secs
2 Andre Greipel (Ger/Team Columbia-High Road) at 0.03
3 Graeme Brown (Aus/Rabobank) at 0.04
4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus/Team Saxo Bank) at 0.08
5 Baden Cooke (Aus/UniSA) at same time
6 Martin Elmiger (Swi/AG2R La Mondiale) at same time
7 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita/Lampre-NGC) at 0.14
8 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa/Caisse D'Epargne) at same time
9 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin/Francaise Des Jeux) at same time
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can/Garmin-Slipstream) at same time