Armstrong Avoids Crash, Leads
Lance Armstrong kept his overall lead in the Tour de France on Monday after narrowly avoiding a crash in the Alps involving one of his main rivals.
Armstrong, bidding for a record-tying fifth consecutive title, finished fourth in the harrowing ninth stage.
"I was scared like never before," Armstrong said. "It was a real panic. In a moment like that, it's a survival instinct."
Joseba Beloki slipped off his bike speeding around a bend on a rapid downhill section near the finish, and hit the road hard. Armstrong was right behind and just missed plowing into the Spaniard. Beloki was taken away in an ambulance.
To avoid Beloki, Armstrong rode into a field next to the road. He bumped across the sun-burnt grass, cutting off a hairpin bend. At the end of the field, he got off his bike, carried it to the road, got back on and sped off.
Hot summer temperatures have been heating the tarmac on the Tour, making roads slick. Armstrong said the road where Beloki fell was "not safe for a fast descent."
Alexandre Vinokourov of Team Telekom took the 114.4-mile stage through the Alps from Bourg d'Oisans to Gap. It was the Kazak's first Tour de France win and moved him into second place overall behind Armstrong.
Beloki had been in second place overall before the stage started.
On Sunday, Armstrong grabbed the leader's yellow jersey for the first time with a third-place finish.
"I'm perhaps not as strong as in previous years," Armstrong said after that stage.
Four more punishing mountain ascents remain in the Pyrenees. Armstrong remains the favorite, but not necessarily an overwhelming one.
"I didn't have the greatest sensation, the greatest legs today," the Texan said. "Let's hope things get better and not worse."
Armstrong will have a relatively flat stage Tuesday, ending in the seaport of Marseille, and a rest day Wednesday.
An individual time trial of 29.14 miles on Friday leads into four days of Pyrenees climbs — considered as difficult as their Alpine counterparts.
Armstrong is fast enough to make up any deficit — should he be overtaken before Friday — in a time trial. Yet he may need to be especially quick to bank some time-in-hand for the grueling Pyrenees.