Armstrong Looks Comfortable Again in Tour de France

After what he called his “hardest day” ever on a bike, Lance Armstrong had a comfortable ride Wednesday and moved closer to retaining his title in the Tour de France.

After passing a surprise drug test and dealing with the abrupt withdrawal of his most vocal challenger, Armstrong finished 35th in the 17th of 21 stages, clocking the same time as winner Erik Dekker of the Netherlands.

Jan Ullrich, the only rider with a remote chance of catching Armstrong, had the same time and finished 29th.

“Nothing’s changed. My goal’s still exactly the same--to win the Tour again,” said Armstrong, the Texas native who overcame testicular cancer to win cycling’s premier event in 1999.

The U.S. Postal leader’s position was never threatened throughout the 96-mile race along the shores of Lake Geneva.

Ullrich of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom remained in second place, 5 minutes 37 seconds behind the American with only three stages to go before Sunday’s final stage in Paris.

Armstrong and the race’s eight other top riders passed a surprise blood test taken Wednesday in their hotel rooms, the first test of its kind on this year’s Tour.

It marked the latest step taken by the International Cycling Union to restore public confidence in the integrity of the competition after a scandal-plagued Tour in 1998, when several top riders were expelled or quit for taking banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Dekker edged Erik Zabel of Telekom and little-known Fred Rodriguez, an American riding for the Italian Mapei team, at the front of a crowded finishing line. Fifty-six racers were credited with Dekker’s time.

Marco Pantani, the Italian who won the Tour in 1998, withdrew from this year’s race overnight while in 14th place.

Pantani blamed mysterious intestinal pains for his decision. Other riders suggested it might have more to do with his fading performance Tuesday during the competition’s last major mountain-climbing stage--the last real chance for Pantani, a poor sprinter, to narrow Armstrong’s lead before Paris.

Armstrong, who exchanged harsh words with Pantani last week after allowing him to win a mountain stage, said he shed no tears about his rival’s departure.

He pointedly referred to Pantani as “the Elephant,” a nickname referring to Pantani’s ears and a reference that the Italian has sought to shed in recent years.

“Elefantino is a different man. I don’t think anybody fully understands his motivations,” Armstrong said when asked about Pantani’s withdrawal. “It’s his problem. He’s not my brother.”

In all, only 130 riders from the 180 who started the race July 1 remained at Wednesday’s finish. The lone American-sponsored team, U.S. Postal, is the only one with all nine members in the saddle.

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Tour de France Glance

A look at 17th stage:

* STAGE--A 96-mile route from Evian-les-Bains, France, to Lausanne, Switzerland, via foothills of the French and Swiss Alps.

* WINNER: Erik Dekker of the Netherlands in 3 hours 24 minutes

53 seconds.

* HOW OTHERS FARED: Fifty-six riders finished close to Dekker and were credited with the same finishing time. Among them were Jan Ullrich of Germany in 29th place, and defending champion Lance Armstrong in 35th. But Switzerland’s Alex Zulle, last year’s runner-up, quit on the stage’s steepest uphill section.

* QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Once I broke clear I didn’t even look back to see what was going on behind me.” --Erik Dekker

* NEXT STAGE: Today’s mostly downhill 153-mile course is from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Freiburg, Germany.