Tour de France
Defending champ Armstrong waits for mountains

By Jamey Keaten
The Associated Press

CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP Lance Armstrong, right, crosses the finish line in 24th position during the fifth stage of the Tour de France yesterday. Stuart O'Grady of Australia won the stage, and Thomas Voeckler of France took the yellow jersey from Armstrong.

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CHARTRES, France — Lance Armstrong gave up two things at the Tour de France yesterday: the yellow jersey and a chance to ride at the Athens Olympics.

Surrendering the jersey was a tactical move. Armstrong, bidding for a record sixth straight Tour de France title, willingly ceded the overall lead — for now — to Frenchman Thomas Voeckler. The Texan knows he must conserve strength for the brutal stages ahead.

Armstrong finished 24th and dropped to sixth overall — 9 minutes, 35 seconds off Voeckler's pace.

As for next month's Olympics, Armstrong wants to return home to his children after months away training for cycling's toughest test. He knew his heart wouldn't be in the Summer Games.

"I've done the Olympics many times, and if I don't have 100 percent motivation for something that's an important event — a very important event — then I don't want to take somebody else's spot," he said.

In training for the Tour, Armstrong said he had spent five months away from his son, Luke, and twins Grace and Isabelle.

"It's really hard to do, and so I want to go home," said Armstrong, the bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games, his best showing in three Olympic appearances.

The decision to concede yesterday's fifth stage was part of Armstrong's grand strategy in this three-week ordeal. When the Tour veers into the Alps and climaxes with a punishing time trial, he wants to be ready.

Until then, Armstrong is willing to let second-tier riders like Voeckler and his Brioches La Boulangere team shoulder the pressure that goes with the leader. Armstrong is confident he'll have overtaken them by the time the race finishes in Paris on July 25.

"Tactically, it's a great move for us with Brioches La Boulangere in the yellow jersey," Armstrong said. "Voeckler is a good young rider. He's French, and I think it's a good thing."

With wind-swept rain and crashes troubling riders, Armstrong and his U.S. Postal Service team decided not to chase as Voeckler and four other riders broke away from the main pack.

Armstrong said he believed Voeckler may be able to defend the lead into the Pyrenees at the end of the second week, but he expects the Frenchman to buckle under the race's grueling demands.

"A team like Brioches will work really hard to defend," Armstrong said. But "we're confident with the gap where it is. This bike race is so much different from any other race. The intensity of the climbs is a lot greater than anything."

Voeckler acknowledged he's no match for cycling's dominant rider.

"Oh, I don't think he's worried about me," Voeckler said.

Australia's Stuart O'Grady, who escaped the pack with Voeckler and three others, won yesterday's stage, a 124.6-mile trek from Amiens to Chartres.

O'Grady dedicated the victory to his team, which has been embroiled in a doping scandal.

"We really needed this win," O'Grady said.

Overall leaders

Defending champion Lance Armstrong surrendered the yellow jersey yesterday, falling to sixth place, 9 minutes, 35 seconds behind.

1. Thomas Voeckler, France, Brioches La Boulangere, 20:03:49.

2. Stuart O'Grady, Australia, Cofidis, 3:13 behind.

3. Sandy Casar, France, fdjeux.com, 4:06 behind.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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