Lance Dance In Full Swing
Lance Armstrong made a big move in his bid for a fourth straight Tour de France title by winning Friday's 12th stage. Armstrong punched the air with both fists as he crossed the finish line after covering the grueling 123.7 miles from Lannemezan to the Plateau de Beille in 6 hours, 29 seconds. In the final 100 yards, he had enough of a margin that he took the time to zip up his yellow jersey, which had been open to below his chest.
"We have to remember that one bad day and you can lose everything," the American three times Tour champion said after winning the 12th stage from Lannemezan to the Plateau-de-Beille. "If you have a bad day on the Ventoux, and it's hot and windy and you're on your own, you can lose a lot of time and I respect that. I've never celebrated before the final night on the Champs-Elysees."
The Texan leads Spaniard Joseba Beloki by two minutes and 28 seconds overall and looks pretty safe in his quest for a fourth successive Tour victory. No rider was in a position to attack him in the last climb of the day and he was never in any trouble.
"There was no attack yesterday or today because the team was setting a fantastic tempo. It's hard to attack behind Jose-Luis Rubiera or Roberto Heras. Again I'm lucky to have those guys," he said.
The American again singled out Spaniard Heras as his most decisive teammate in the mountains.
Asked if he or Heras had been the best climber in the two stages held in the Pyrenees, Armstrong said: "Yesterday, absolutely Roberto. Today it's hard to say. We're teammates and it doesn't matter. We have one ambition and it is to win the Tour for the team," he added.
Heras, who drew Armstrong up the last climbs to La Mongie and the Plateau-de-Beille, finished third on Thursday and second on Friday.
The U.S. Postal team leader admitted Heras had impressed him.
"I was in his wheel yesterday and I was not a happy camper," he said.
Armstrong said it would be a dream to have Heras on the podium with him in Paris, but pointed out that the Spaniard, a former Tour of Spain winner, had lost too much time in the individual time trial in Brittany on Monday.
"That's a dream to have two guys of the same team on the podium. It would prove that we have, I would say, one of the strongest teams in the history of cycling. For me, that would be fantastic. In the short term, we would like him to win a stage," Armstrong added.