Tour de Force: Armstrong Gaining On Leader

Thor Hushovd of Norway led a mass sprint finish Thursday to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France along rain-slickened roads south of the French border in Spain.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland kept the yellow jersey, with just a split-second lead over Lance Armstrong after the 112.8-mile course from Gerona to Barcelona.

Hushovd, of the Cervelo team, collected his seventh Tour stage win by edging out two Spaniards - three-time world champion Oscar Freire in second, and Jose Joaquin Rojas in third - in the final sprint.

They clocked 4 hours, 21 minutes, 33 seconds for the stage, the same time as 40 other riders including seven-time Tour champion Armstrong and Cancellara in the main pack of favorites.

Breakaway riders including Britain's David Millar repeatedly attacked, only to be reeled in by the finish. He was caught with little more than one kilometer (0.6 mile) left to go.

The race heads to the first big mountain challenge with Friday's ride into the Pyrenees from Barcelona to Arcalis, Andorra.

The Tour ends July 26 in Paris.