Armstrong Enters 2nd in Tour de France

(CBS/AP)  Lance Armstrong closed within a second of the overall lead at the Tour de France after his Astana squad won Tuesday's team time trial.

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara of the Saxo Bank team narrowly kept the yellow jersey after the 24.2-mile ride in and around Montpellier.

Astana needed to beat Saxo by more than 40 seconds for Armstrong to take the overall lead. The seven-time champion started the stage in third place, and he and Astana exactly matched that 40-second deficit.

Armstrong, a seven-time champion coming out of retirement, took advantage of a late breakaway during Monday's third stage to move up from 10th place while rival and teammate Alberto Contador and the other favorites were trapped in the main pack.

This is the first team time trial at the Tour since 2005. Teams set off one by one at seven-minute intervals in a race against the clock. The course through the sun-baked streets of Montpellier is among the flattest on this Tour.

As teams finish, their first five riders receive the same times while any laggards draw individual times. The teams all have nine riders except Quick Step; one on the Belgian squad quit the race after a crash in Stage 2.

Any rider who doesn't finish within the best team time plus 25 percent can be eliminated from the race, though race stewards can grant exceptions.

Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov crashed Tuesday, one of three during the 24.2-mile ride in and around Montpellier, near the Mediterranean. All the fallen riders got up and returned to the race.

Menchov was trailing a Rabobank teammate when he misjudged a left turn and skidded into the barriers shortly after the team took off.

"It was a slippery road," said Menchov after finishing the fourth stage with a few scrapes and bruises on his arm. "It's nothing serious."

The Russian also crashed in the last individual time trial of the Giro.

He was escorted from the team bus to doping control. He said he has been tested already four times this year - before Tuesday's check.

"It's normal. It means that they consider me one of the race favorites," he said. He was in 56th place overall before the stage - 2 minutes, 12 seconds behind leader Fabian Cancellara.

Four riders on the BBox Bouygues Telecom team also crashed, as did Jurgen van den Broeck, who supports two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans on the Silence Lotto squad.

The Tour ends July 26 in Paris.

[toldyouso29]

Maturity is knowing when to leave the playing field to the younger set. Give it up old man--go with grace.