Geraint Thomas was in shock after winning his first career Tour de France stage and taking the yellow jersey as Team Sky enjoyed a dream start to the 2017 edition on the soaking streets of Dusseldorf.
Thomas completed the opening 14 kilometre time trial in 16 minutes and four seconds to win by five seconds from BMC Racing's Stefan Kung.
"I didn't really expect it," Thomas said. "I didn't know what to expect.
"To win the stage is incredible and the yellow on top is amazing. I'm still in shock to be honest."
It was pretty much the ideal start for Team Sky as Chris Froome finished sixth, 12 seconds behind Thomas, to take a significant early lead over his general classification rivals as he seeks a third straight Tour crown and fourth overall.
"It's really great for the team that Geraint has won," Froome said. "The time trial is something I've worked on during the past three weeks and we've taken time on rivals too, which is a great start."
Bury's Simon Yates of Orica-Scott was the second best of the general classification hopefuls, giving up 25 seconds to Froome, while Richie Porte of BMC conceded 35 seconds and Movistar's Nairo Quintana 36 seconds.
Ireland's Dan Martin finished one further second back, 49 seconds down on Thomas, but ahead of other GC contenders like Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Alberto Contador.
Porte's BMC team-mate Nicolas Roche finished 1:14 down after hitting the deck in the greasy conditions.
The victory will be extra sweet for Thomas, who was given the chance to lead Sky in the first grand tour of the year but saw his dream of winning the Giro d'Italia end in a freak crash caused by a police motorbike at the end of the first week.
#TDF2017 @nicholasroche crashed out on the slippery course but he's okay and was able to get back on the bike to finish his 14km effort.
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 1, 2017
"The Giro was a massive disappointment and in the Tirreno-Adriatico we had our fair share of bad luck to be honest, so it's nice not to have any bad luck," he said.
"Almost immediately (after leaving the Giro) I set the goal to come here and do the best job I could.
"If I didn't do that I would be three or four kilos heavier now and going pretty slow. I still can't quite believe it. It's certainly a great day and makes up for that disappointment."
While Thomas and Sky celebrate, others were left to lick their wounds - many quite literally.
Porte took it steady after seeing Roche go down earlier in the afternoon. "I've been cautious," the Australian said. "It was slippery. It wasn't the best time trial for me. I was nervous. It was better to take no risk."
Quintana also conceded time but suffered an even greater loss as key team-mate Alejandro Valverde crashed badly on a corner and was taken to hospital, putting him out of the race.
Several riders continued after crashing on the greasy roads but there was no getting up for Valverde, third overall in 2015, after he careered into crowd barriers after skidding off before being taken to hospital with leg injuries.
It was heart-breaking for Valverde and also a huge blow for Quintana who was counting on Valverde's experience in the mountain stages to come.
The race heads to Belgium tomorrow for the first of a series of probable sprint stages begin with a 203.5km run to Liege.
