Climb to Top Is All Armstrong

This time around, 13 must be Lance Armstrong’s lucky number.

Thursday, he won a stage in the Tour de France race for the 13th time in his career, and the victory in the first mountain stage was enough to give him the overall lead in the race and the yellow leader’s jersey for the first time since he won the prologue in Luxembourg on July 6.

And he won with an impressive performance in the Pyrenees, erasing doubts that had arisen after the surprise upset he suffered Monday in the first individual time trial, defeated that day at the hands of a tenacious Colombian rider.

That rare loss for Armstrong set rivals chattering about how the three-time defending champion was simply not as strong as in the past, and how the Tour had now been changed.

But Thursday, Armstrong proved he is still King of the Mountains. And he did it with a ride that seemed at times almost effortless, boosted along by impressive performances from his U.S. Postal teammates.

Armstrong came in first on the ride from Pau to the ski resort of La Mongie, seven seconds ahead of Spaniard Joseba Beloki. But just behind Beloki was Armstrong’s teammate, Roberto Heras, 13 seconds back.

Armstrong afterward had warm words for Heras and all his teammates.

“To me, he was the stage winner,” he said of Heras. “To me, the biggest takeaway is the team, and the performance of the team.”

Heras, he said, set a “very, very rapid pace.”

The performance began with American George Hincapie leading the blue line into the mountains. His lead position was soon taken over by Spaniard Jose Luis Rubiera.

And by the end it was Heras and Armstrong, riding strong, pushing each other, taking control of the race.

Armstrong sprinted out the last 200 yards to pass Beloki and take the overall race lead by 1 minute 12 seconds.

The previous yellow jersey holder, another Spaniard, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, is third, 1:48 behind. Armstrong had been 26 seconds behind at the start of this stage.

Armstrong completed Thursday’s stage in 4 hours 21 minutes 57 seconds.

Armstrong said he considered letting Heras win the stage but was more worried about Beloki and the necessity to gain points on the rider emerging as the Texan’s chief rival. With the race so close, every second counts.

In previous Tours, Armstrong has used his climbing ability to attack in the mountains and build insurmountable leads over his rivals, usually by several minutes. But perhaps in an indication of how this Tour remains in suspense, his lead this time after this first mountain stage is relatively slim, and rivals still lurk in the background.

No one seems more aware of that than Armstrong.

“Beloki’s good,” Armstrong said of the second-place finisher. “He’s a threat, and we have to take all the time possible.”

Another grueling mountain stage beckons today, 124 miles to the Plateau de Beille.

The race ends in Paris on July 28. Armstrong is trying to become the first American to win four consecutive Tours.

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Cycling’s governing body and the World Anti-Doping agency clashed Thursday over test results that showed Gonzalez de Galdeano was using a banned substance.

WADA, which oversees drug testing for most Olympic sports, said the test results from Gonzalez de Galdeano should be considered positive because they showed levels of the stimulant salbutamol well above the limits.

“For us, the medical justification [for using salbutamol] doesn’t apply above 1,000 nanograms” per milliliter, Alain Garnier, the director of WADA’s European office, told the Associated Press.

He was spared punishment by the international cycling union because he used the drug to treat asthma.

Test results showed a concentration of 1,360 nanograms per milliliter in his sample.

The cycling union said it considered the test result negative and issued a statement to counter the claim by Garnier, who didn’t comment directly on Gonzalez de Galdeano’s case.

“There is no positive result and the discussion over the levels of salbutamol found in Galdeano is closed,” the cycling union said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Highlights from the 11th stage:

Stage: A 97.96-mile mountainous stretch from Pau to La Mongie, high in the Pyrenees.

Winner: Three-time defending champion Lance Armstrong, in 4 hours 21 minutes 57 seconds. He also claimed the overall lead.

How others fared: Joseba Beloki finished second, seven seconds behind Armstrong, and was 1:12 behind the Texan in the overall standings. Spain’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano finished in 11th place and lost the yellow jersey. He dropped from first to third overall, 1:48 behind Armstrong.

Quote of the day: “For me, Roberto is the stage winner. He sacrificed everything for me and the team, and I’m very grateful.”--Armstrong on U.S. Postal Service teammate Roberto Heras, who led the surge up the last climb, then moved aside for Armstrong in the final few hundred yards.

Next stage: Today’s 12th stage is 124 miles from Lannemezan to the Plateau de Beille in the Pyrenees.