No Crash Ending

When Lance Armstrong is measured against the other great champions of the Tour de France -- Miguel Indurain, so far the only man to win five consecutive Tours, and the other five-time winners: Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil -- what Armstrong did Monday in Stage 15 will be remembered.

The stark numbers -- a stage win, his first of this Tour; his gain of 40 seconds over Jan Ullrich, who is in second place, and 2:07 over Alexandre Vinokourov, who is in third; his overall lead of 1:07 on Ullrich and 2:45 on Vinokourov; his winning time of 4:29.26, an average speed up six huge mountain climbs of 22 mph -- explain none of the raw emotion of this amazing day.

Armstrong fell with about six miles left in the stage, propelled as if from a slingshot as his bike was taken down by the handle of a fan’s souvenir bag. Armstrong got up and attacked the mountain. He attacked so hard his foot slipped from his pedal, almost throwing Armstrong over the front of the bike.

Armstrong regained his rhythm and attacked again.

His elbow bloody, his hip aching, his yellow jersey spotted with dirt from the road, Armstrong finally strengthened his hold on the 2003 Tour de France. He may not let go.

“After the fall,” Armstrong said, “I had a big, big rush of adrenaline. I told myself, ‘Lance, if you want to win the Tour de France, do it today.’ ”

As the mist and fog of the mountaintop closed in on Armstrong, as it became difficult to make out the road markers -- three kilometers to go, two, one -- Armstrong didn’t care. He saw nothing ahead but his last, best chance to make the 2003 Tour de France his.

Before the 99-mile stage from Bagneres-de-Bigorre to this ski station about 20 miles south of Lourdes began, Armstrong said he needed to make a big strike here in the Pyrenees or give up the thoughts of tying Indurain’s record. “This morning, I knew today was a very big day for me,” Armstrong said. “Maybe the biggest. If I wanted to win the Tour de France, it was necessary for me to go all out and attack.”

For three days -- starting with last Friday’s monstrous time-trial victory -- Ullrich, the 29-year-old German who won the 1997 Tour, gained on Armstrong and built confidence.

Armstrong had suffered in the unprecedented heat that followed the Tour from the prologue in Paris on July 5. When the riders gathered at the starting line Monday, Ullrich was 15 seconds behind Armstrong and Vinokourov was 18 seconds behind. None of the previous Tours had been this close this late in the race.

Vinokourov was left behind by Armstrong and Ullrich on the second-to-last of the day’s six big climbs. Ullrich attacked on the 6,976.2-foot Col du Tourmalet. Armstrong responded. Vinokourov couldn’t.

“The previous racing took its toll,” Vinokourov said. “I couldn’t do it again.”

As the racers descended from Tourmalet, Armstrong’s United States Postal Service teammates rode to his side. Ullrich’s Bianchi teammates gathered to pace their leader. This stage was to end with a 5,659.5-foot climb straight to the finish line, and both riders needed protection.

It was Iban Mayo, who began the day in fifth place and who rides for the Basque team Euskaltel-Euskadi, who started the final attack.

Mayo, with cheers from thousands of Basque fans wearing the bright orange colors of Euskaltel pushing him ahead, took off. Armstrong came along using a smooth, powerful rhythm that had been missing for a week.

Ullrich began to labor as Armstrong shot ahead of Mayo.

Riding close to the edge of the road, “too close,” Armstrong said, he was suddenly spilled out of his seat. Unlike any other sporting event, the fans of this race touch the competitors. They wave flags in their faces, give them a push, a pat on the back. They run back and forth across the road.

This time a single arm holding a yellow bag flicked out to wave as Armstrong flew by. The bag caught the bars. In an instant, Armstrong, the 31-year-old from Austin, Texas, who had barely avoided the crash that caused Joseba Beloki, then in second place, to fall and break his leg, wrist and arm in the eighth stage, hit the ground hard.

The tumble also took down Mayo, who was riding on Armstrong’s back wheel.

As Armstrong and Mayo untangled their bikes, brushed off the gravel and began racing again, the other leaders held up and waited in the best tradition of cycling sportsmanship.

Ullrich, who had been hanging on Mayo’s wheel, swerved and avoided the crash, but when Tyler Hamilton, once Armstrong’s teammate on the United States Postal Service team, motioned for the peloton -- the lead pack -- to slow and wait for Armstrong and Mayo, Ullrich and the others did.

Two years ago, Armstrong had done the same for a fallen Ullrich.

“Jan’s a good guy,” Armstrong said. “He’s an honorable guy. I don’t think he forgot when he crashed in 2001, in what seemed to be a serious crash, I told everyone, ‘We can’t race until he gets back up.’ What goes around, comes around. I appreciate him doing that.”

Just when it seemed Ullrich had nothing left, the German put on a desperate sprint to finish third in the stage behind Mayo and earn eight precious bonus points. Armstrong gained 20 extra seconds for his stage win. Mayo got 12 bonus points.

After the stage, Armstrong reflected on what has been an unusually dramatic Tour for him.

“This has been a Tour of too many problems, too many close calls, too many near misses, too many things that seem like they’re worth a lifetime,” Armstrong said. “I just wish it would stop. I wish I could have some uneventful days. But anyway it was a good day today.”

The Tour takes its final rest day today. There is another moderate mountain stage Wednesday that ends in Bayonne, near the Atlantic Ocean. Thursday and Friday are flat stages with little opportunity to attack.

Ullrich is now banking on man-against-clock talent. He had gained 96 seconds on Armstrong in that first time trial last Friday. He’s only 67 seconds behind now. There is a 30-mile time trial Saturday, from Pornic to Nantes.

“It’s a two-man race now,” Vinokourov said. “But it’s not over.”

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At a Glance

*--* Highlights of the 15th stage: * Stage: Bagneres-de-Bigorre to Luz-Ardiden, a 99-mile trek in the Pyrenees that features the mammoth Col du Tourmalet, a 6,976.2-foot climb * Winner: Four-time champion Lance Armstrong, recovering from a fall to win his first stage of this Tour in 4 hours 29 minutes 26 seconds * How others fared: Spain’s Iban Mayo placed second; Germany’s Jan Ullrich, a Tour winner in 1997, finished third; Tyler Hamilton of U.S. was seventh; Kazhakstan rider Alexandre Vinokourov placed eighth * Yellow jersey: Armstrong keeps the overall lead with a time of 65 hours 36 minutes 23 seconds * Next stage: Today is a rest day. Wednesday’s 16th stage, the fourth and final of the Pyrenees climbs, is a 122.45-mile mountain route from Pau to Bayonne and includes three ascents exceeding 3,300 feet * On the Web: For live updates of each day’s Tour de France stage, complete standings, cyclist profiles and course information, go to latimes.com/tour

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*--* TOUR DE FRANCE: OVERALL STANDINGS N. Rider Country Behind 1. LANCE ARMSTRONG United States -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2. JAN ULLRICH Germany 1 minute 7 seconds 3. ALEXANDRE VINOKOUROV Kazakhstan 2 minutes 45 seconds 4. HAIMAR ZUBELDIA Spain 5 minutes 16 seconds 5. IBAN MAYO Spain 5 minutes 25 seconds

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