Armstrong Drops Out of Lead

Lance Armstrong wasn’t kidding about not wearing that yellow jersey all the way to Paris. He took it off in Chartres.

A day after earning the shirt worn by the daily leader of the Tour de France, Armstrong was content to stay back in the peloton, gently escorted by his U.S. Postal Service teammates and avoiding all the spills along the 124.6 miles of wind-blown, rainy roads between Amiens and Chartres, the city of the grand cathedral.

The fifth stage was won Thursday by Australian Stuart O’Grady, 30, who was as happy for his French team, Cofidis, as he was for himself in his second-ever stage win. Young Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, who rides for Brioches La Boulangere, was the emotional holder of the yellow jersey after a day of riding through rolling hills and waving wheat fields.

Armstrong is in sixth place overall, 9 minutes 35 seconds behind the leader. But even Voeckler, 25, said, “Oh, I don’t think Lance is worried about me.” Voeckler, who recently won the French cycling championship, spoke perfect English and smiled when he spoke. He appears content to hold on to the yellow jersey for as long as possible.

Among those considered the biggest threats to Armstrong’s aim of becoming the only man to win six straight Tours, fellow American Tyler Hamilton, riding for Phonak, remained 36 seconds behind Armstrong; 1997 winner Jan Ullrich of Germany, riding for T-Mobile, is 55 seconds behind and Ivan Basso of Italy, riding for Team CSC, is 1:17 behind.

After Thursday’s ride, Armstrong told Associated Press he had decided to skip the Olympics. A three-time Olympian, though not a gold medalist, Armstrong said he had been in Europe nearly five months preparing for this record-setting attempt and that he needed to spend time with his three children by his ex-wife, Kristin. Armstrong had been traveling with rock singer Sheryl Crow, who left after Wednesday’s team trial for a European singing tour.

About his post-Tour plans, Armstrong said, “I’ve thought a lot about this and the answer is, I shouldn’t even say ‘probably not,’ I should say ‘no.’ I’ve done the Olympics many times and if I don’t have 100% motivation for something that’s an important event, a very important event, then I don’t want to take somebody’s else’s spot.”

As winners of the time trial and with the yellow jersey holder on its team, U.S. Postal had the job of setting the pace in Thursday’s stage. A more important job was keeping Armstrong safe. There were several crashes during the miserable day and one took down three of Armstrong’s teammates, including strong climber Manuel Beltran. All of the U.S. Postal riders finished relatively unscathed, though Beltran twice had his badly scraped elbow tended to.

Five breakaway riders led the peloton by as much as 17 minutes. “On days like this,” said O’Grady, “it’s not us sprinters who decide who will win. It’s the peloton. If they decide to chase, there’s little we can do. Today we benefited from the fact that any pursuit had to be taken on by a team willing to spend four hours driving into a headwind.”

U.S. Postal was unwilling to do something so tiring and unnecessary. U.S. team sporting director Johan Bruyneel was almost dismissive in saying, “We can’t kill the team for a breakaway by five people who aren’t a threat in the overall classification,” he said. “I’m comfortable with the situation.”

And Armstrong was clear in how he felt after six days of racing. “It’s a dream start,” he said. “My team is great and we’re avoiding the crashes every day. It was bad today with the rain in our eyes. But things are very good right now.”

O’Grady felt good for different reasons. His team is in the midst of a doping scandal in which a former member has made damaging accusations. One of its leading sprinters, David Millar, was arrested at dinner, spent 48 hours in jail a week before the Tour began and subsequently withdrew from the Tour and the Olympics.

Cofidis was suspended from participating in Europe’s spring classics, which lead to the Tour. O’Grady hasn’t been accused of anything. He wasn’t a member of the team at the time the alleged doping occurred.

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Stage 5 at a Glance

The fifth stage of the 91st Tour de France:

* Stage: A flat, quick-paced 124.59-mile stretch from Amiens to Chartres, France.

* Winner: Stuart O’Grady, Australia, Cofidis Credit Par Telephone, 5:05:58.

* How others fared: Lance Armstrong, U.S., finished 24th, 12 minutes, 33 seconds behind; Germany’s Jan Ullrich finished 18th, 12:33 behind.

* Yellow jersey: French cyclist Thomas Voeckler of Brioches La Boulangere wrests the leader’s shirt from Armstrong.

* Quote of the day: “Oh, I don’t think Lance is worried about me.” -- Voeckler, when asked what his lead over Armstrong meant.

*--* OVERALL LEADERS 1. Thomas Voeckler, France 20:03:49 2. Stuart O’Grady, Australia 3:13 behind 3. Sandy Casar, France 4:06 behind 4. Magnus Backstedt, Sweden 6:06 behind 5. Jakob Piil, Denmark 6:58 behind

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