Tour de France
Hello, yellow: Lance leads

By Bonnie DeSimone
Chicago Tribune

DOUG PENSINGER / GETTY IMAGES Lance Armstrong thrusts his fists in the air in celebration of his stage victory in the Alps, which gave him the race lead.

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VILLARD-DE-LANS, France — He slung both fists into the air like an ecstatic prizefighter as he crossed the finish line, then added a right jab for good measure.

Take that, and that and that.

So much for people who thought Lance Armstrong was vulnerable, or over the hill. After riding with controlled aggression for most of the Tour de France, Armstrong confirmed yesterday that he is in peak form, sprinting to victory in a dazzling two-man match race with Ivan Basso up the final short, sweet climb of Stage 15.

Armstrong's victory in the seven-climb, 112-mile Alpine stage entitled him to don the yellow jersey. In five previous Tour victories, he never has relinquished the leader's jersey in the mountains.

Armstrong converted a 22-second deficit to a lead of 1 minute, 25 seconds on a day when few expected the race to blow up as it did. He could all but seal a record-breaking sixth Tour title if he dominates today's first-ever time trial up the torturous, 21 switchbacks of Alpe d'Huez.

"There was still a part of me that wanted to ride a legendary mountain like Alpe d'Huez in the yellow jersey," Armstrong said.

He called the prospect of his 61st career day in yellow "impossible."

"When I put on my first one, I was the happiest man in the world and that would have been enough for me," he said.

The 32-year-old Texan would have been favored heavily in today's time trial no matter what color he raced in. But the stage that once loomed as the decisive one in the Tour promises to be more coronation than confrontation.

Hundreds of thousands of cycling pilgrims have flocked to the famous mountain to see the 157 remaining Tour riders file up one at a time today. The ski village is so thick with haphazardly pitched tents and randomly parked recreational vehicles that it resembles an affluent refugee camp.

Armstrong has scouted the climb more than a dozen times over the years. He won a Tour stage here in 2001, the year he feigned fatigue and then charged past Jan Ullrich, glancing back at his rival to make sure he was through.

Last year, Armstrong backed into the lead on this summit, more taxed than he should have been after climbing the previous mountain with his back brake chafing against his wheel.

The stage will begin with a short flat stretch at the base of the climb, which rises at an average 7.9 percent grade. However, the angle of the incline varies greatly from curve to curve. The beginning of the climb has the sharpest rise.

Armstrong will bring a new customized bike and lots of accumulated knowledge to the task.

"It's probably the stage Lance knows best," said Johan Bruyneel, U.S. Postal Service team director. "He knows every corner, where it's steep and where it's not steep."

The most educated guessers say that the fastest time up Alpe d'Huez will be about 35 minutes, but no one really knows, Bruyneel said.

"We didn't do any full-effort tests on Alpe d'Huez, because if you do a full-effort test and get a medium result, it's not good for the morale."

Yesterday's stage unfurled surprisingly and proved excellent for Armstrong's morale — as if it needed boosting.

The peloton split early in the stage. Climbing specialists Richard Virenque and Michael Rasmussen went out on an early breakaway and the lead pack seemed content to let them go.

Then, on the Col de l'Echarasson about two-thirds of the way through the stage, Germany's Jan Ullrich attacked, looking like a different athlete than he did a few days ago when he huffed and labored through two consecutive Pyrenees stages.

	Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, led by teammates Floyd Landis and Jose Azevedo, joined forces with Basso and his CSC teammate Jens Voigt and gradually gathered in Ullrich and the other front-runners.

"Pas probleme, pas panique (no problem, no panic)," Armstrong told a French television reporter, exhibiting his mastery of idiomatic French as well as his mastery of race strategy.

Later, in English, he added: "We weren't very concerned. We knew the course well ... It wasn't really a threatening situation. Absolutely no problem."

The stage ended with a sharp 1-1/2-mile climb into Villard-de-Lans. By the last half-mile, the lead group had dwindled to Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Ullrich's teammate Andreas Kloden and Rabobank team leader Levi Leipheimer.

Basso charged ahead first and Armstrong jumped in his wake, passing him on the inside of a curve and then cutting off Basso's path to finish first. Ullrich chugged in three seconds later.

"Johan was screaming in my (radio earpiece), saying I had to win because of the time bonuses," Armstrong said, referring to the 20 extra seconds awarded stage winners. "Sure, you could sit up and get fourth, but why give up 20 seconds to your rivals?"

	Ivan Basso

Basso, who got a 12-second bonus for second place, is 1:25 behind Armstrong.

Although Basso's time-trial skills are a work in progress, Armstrong said he still is wary of dismissing him on Alpe d'Huez.

"If I have an off day, there's a chance I could lose time," Armstrong said.

Notes

• France's Thomas Voeckler, who wore the leader's yellow jersey for 10 days, not including two rest days, wilted in 86-degree heat. He finished 54th and fell to eighth overall, 9:28 behind.

• Euskaltel team leader Iban Mayo of Spain didn't start yesterday's stage. Mayo was considered a challenger for a podium spot before he unraveled on his home turf, the Pyrenees. Mayo said he had a virus.

• CSC's Jakob Piil, a breakaway artist from Denmark who had been one of the most aggressive riders in the Tour, also withdrew, citing a knee injury.

• Ullrich is fifth, 6:54 behind. Leipheimer's strong fifth-place finish, just 13 seconds behind Basso and Armstrong, vaulted him into 10th place.

• As overall leader, Armstrong gets the advantage of starting last in today's time trial. Riders will depart at 1-minute intervals until the final 20, who will begin 2 minutes apart.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Overall leaders

Five-time defending champion Lance Armstrong took the overall lead for the second time in this year's race, which ends Sunday in Paris.

1. Lance Armstrong, U.S. Postal, 67 hours, 13 minutes, 43 seconds.

2. Ivan Basso, Italy, Team CSC, 1 minute, 25 seconds behind.

3. Andreas Kloden, Germany, T-Mobile, 3:22 behind.

Days in yellow

Armstrong yesterday moved into third place for most days spent in the leader's yellow jersey. The all-time leaders:

96 Eddy Merckx, Belgium

78 Bernard Hinault, France

61 Lance Armstrong, U.S.

60 Miguel Indurain, Spain

51 Jacques Anquetil, France

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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