Armstrong is inured to controversy, though, whether it concerns drug testing or the race itself.
For example, his push on Monday escalated tensions with Contador over who would emerge as Astana's team leader. Contador, 26, is eager to build on his 2007 Tour victory and, until Armstrong's return, was the unrivaled top rider.
After Monday's stage, Contador dismissed Armstrong's savvy move by saying, "I'll let what he did speak for itself."
An unflappable Armstrong replied, "I have won seven of these races. I think I know what I'm doing."
What he did was capture the imagination of fans everywhere and shake the race alive.
Instead of headlines trumpeting another cycling star being kicked out for doping -- Armstrong's archrival Jan Ullrich in 2006 among them -- attention is on Armstrong's relentless move up the standings.
"With what Lance did," said Columbia owner and Riverside native Bob Stapleton, by phone from France, "this Tour has become the biggest thing going in Europe and the U.S. too, I think. The intensity level over here is amazing. All anyone is talking about is Lance."
Paul Sherwen, a former elite cyclist and now an analyst on the live coverage on Versus, has no doubt what will happen next.
"I expect to see Lance in the yellow jersey after Friday's stage," he said. "What he has done this week already is amazing."
When Armstrong announced in September that he was coming back, he said his motivation was simple. He wanted to raise awareness and money, through his Lance Armstrong Foundation, to help find a cure for cancer.
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Champion's cause
And there is no denying his commitment to that cause. Armstrong survived the disease himself in 1997, recovering from testicular cancer that had spread to his brain. Last January, when Armstrong rode in his first comeback race at the Tour Down Under in Australia, he spent an afternoon with cancer patients, at one point tearing up as he listened to the story of a young mother who was fighting breast cancer. It is by design that at every stop in his comeback, Armstrong has made a point to visit a hospital oncology ward.
"If I don't win another race," Armstrong said in Australia, "it doesn't matter. This is my fight. Cancer is my motivation."
But if he could win another major cycling title, that would be nice too.
