The Alps are gone forever — now the Pyrenees beckon Lance Armstrong again as he edges closer to retiring with a seventh straight Tour de France win.
Armstrong finished comfortably in 41st place on Thursday’s 12th stage and preserved his overall lead. Although it was his last day in the Alps, Armstrong had little time for sentimentality.
”It didn’t occur to me at all,” he said.
As the French took the day off to celebrate Bastille Day, a national holiday, thousands cheered as David Moncoutie surged out in front to win the 187km trek from Briancon to Digne-les-Bains.
Armstrong now has a routine flat stage on Friday before Saturday’s first of three Pyrenean climbs — where he will be without Manuel Beltran, his trusted teammate in such ascents.
Beltran touched wheels with another racer and crashed on Thursday’s first ascent, hitting his head on the asphalt. He was taken to the hospital, where scans appeared to reveal no brain damage, but he was kept overnight for observation.
Not since 2001 has Armstrong finished in Paris without all of his teammates. Beltran’s role has been to use his uphill speed and stamina to help the American break rivals in the mountains.
”Three tough days in the Pyrenees … we don’t want to lose any climbers and Triki is one of our pure climbers,” Armstrong said.
Sunday’s monstrously hard 15th stage — it has four consecutive category-one climbs and ends with an uphill finish so tough it has no classification — will test the resolve of Armstrong’s depleted Discovery Channel team.
”There is no one really who can pick up what he was doing,” team director Johan Bruyneel said. ”We need all the guys and everybody knows his role. It’s going to be tougher on the team, of course, because it’s one guy less and his job will have to be shared.”
Beltran, who has been part of Armstrong’s Tour-winning team since 2003, remounted his bike and pedaled on for about 10km.
Moncoutie became the 15th Frenchman since World War II to win on Bastille Day, taking the lead on the Col du Corobin, the fourth of the five ascents, and completing the route in four hours, 20 minutes and six seconds.
”It’s fabulous,” Moncoutie said. ”I’m so happy to win. It’s July 14.”
Armstrong cruised in with his main rivals in a group more than 10 minutes back.
His lead over second-place Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark stayed at 38 seconds, with French rider Christophe Moreau third, 2:34 behind the six-time champion.
Italian Ivan Basso remains 2:40 back, fourth overall, with Jan Ullrich of Germany 4:02 behind in ninth.
French television hailed Moncoutie as a ”clean” winner. The speeds so far this year and the arrest on Wednesday of Italian rider Dario Frigo have fuelled doubts that some riders are doping.
Frigo’s wife was caught with suspected doping products in her car.
Moncoutie placed sixth at the Dauphine Libere before the Tour.
Even with the time made up with his win on Thursday, he is 40th overall at the Tour.
”At the Dauphine Libere, I managed to stay with the best. At the Tour, I no longer can,” Moncoutie said. ”It is like that every year. I know that the Tour goes faster. That is the way it is. So be it. You draw the conclusions you want.”
Cycling’s governing body said on Thursday that all blood and urine doping tests from the first week of the three-week race were negative.
Customs officers checked at least two vehicles from two separate Tour teams on Thursday but found nothing suspicious. — Sapa-AP