Spain’s Escartin Climbs Closer to Armstrong in the Pyrenees

U.S. cycling phenomenon Lance Armstrong retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey Tuesday in the Tour de France but saw his lead wither by nearly 1 1/2 minutes as competitors struggled up the heights of the Pyrenees for the first time.

Ace climber Fernando Escartin of Spain won the Tour’s 15th stage and moved into second place overall behind Armstrong, supplanting fellow Spaniard Abraham Olano. Escartin outpaced the pack and crossed the finish 5,940 feet above sea level 2 minutes 1 second ahead of both Alex Zulle of Switzerland and Richard Virenque of France. It was Escartin’s first Tour stage victory.

Armstrong, making an astonishing comeback from cancer, finished fourth, nine seconds behind Zulle and Virenque. The 27-year-old Texan said he was happy with his showing on the 107.5-mile leg from Saint-Gaudens to Piau-Engaly but pointed out that today’s stage is also expected to be grueling: another winding route through the Pyrenees from Lanne-Mezan to Pau.

“We’ll see how things pan out,” Armstrong said. “Tomorrow will be a long, tough stage, but I’m always optimistic. My team managed things well for me again.”

Armstrong had been leading overall by 7 minutes 44 seconds, but the fourth-place finish behind the surging Escartin cut the cushion to 6:19. Both cyclists rode aggressively, making numerous attacks to break away from competitors. Escartin, of the Kelme-Costa Blanca team of Spain, seized the lead about 22 miles from the finish, on an uphill climb in the Val Louron-Azet.

Controversy, meanwhile, raged about whether Armstrong might be taking banned substances to boost his racing performance, an allegation he has flatly and repeatedly denied. Some French media have called accounts of the Texan’s 1996 recovery from testicular cancer and return to professional cycling too miraculous to be true and have asked whether or hinted that his outstanding performance this year is because of drugs.

“I have never tested positive and have never been caught with anything,” Armstrong said Monday, a rest day on the Tour. “France is a very strict country in terms of doping. I am always in France, and if I had something to hide, I would stay away.”

Despite the American’s denials, Le Monde, one of France’s most respected newspapers, reported Tuesday that a test conducted July 4 after the Tour’s first stage had turned up traces, albeit very weak ones, of a synthetic corticoid, triamcinolone acetonide, in Armstrong’s urine. According to Le Monde, the substance is used by athletes to combat fatigue and pain.

Under the rating system used, an 0.2 level of the drug was detected in Armstrong’s urine, the paper said. A 6.0 would have been required for the cyclist to fail the doping test, according to Le Monde.

Contacted on a portable phone at the finish line high in the Pyrenees, Margot Evans, spokeswoman for Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team, said she had not seen the latest edition of Le Monde and could make no immediate comment. Earlier, French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said her policy was to believe in the innocence of all riders until the facts prove otherwise.

“I am leading the anti-doping fight,” Buffet said. “But I have avoided going on rumors.”

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Tour de France at a Glance

* 15th Stage: A 107.5-mile stage between Saint-Gaudens and Piau-Engaly, high in the Pyrenees.

* Winner: Spain’s Fernando Escartin, who had finished third in two stages this year, won in 5 hours 19 minutes 49 seconds.

* Others: Switzerland’s Alex Zulle was second, and France’s four-time King of the Mountains, Richard Virenque, was third. American Lance Armstrong came in fourth. Virenque retained the dotted climbing jersey, and Erik Zabel of Germany kept the green sprinting jersey.

* Overall: Escartin took more than a minute off Armstrong’s lead of 7 minutes 44 seconds. The Texan leads the Spaniard by 6 minutes 19 seconds.

* Next stage: Racing resumes today in the Pyrenees, a 120-mile stage from Lannemezan to Pau.