Armstrong Wins Back Tour Lead

Lance Armstrong took the yellow jersey in style Tuesday, standing up on his pedals and brushing away the best his opponents could offer.

Top rival Jan Ullrich made a daring, last-chance attack that enabled him to break away at one point, but he was pulled back and, in the end, was huffing, puffing and perhaps broken. New star Ivan Basso used a last-second spin move to take the lead, but Armstrong catapulted around him in the last few meters to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France in a breathtaking sprint.

It was a dominating performance by the 32-year-old Texan, who is trying to become the Tour’s first six-time champion, and it earned him a mountain-shaking roar from the crowd watching the end of the race’s first Alps stage.

That, and the yellow jersey that belongs to the rider in the overall lead.

Armstrong rode strong and he rode smart. He seemed unperturbed as Ullrich broke away at the bottom of the biggest of the day’s seven climbs, patiently staying with his United States Postal Service teammates even as they fell more than two minutes behind the leader. Then, after his team had helped him track Ullrich down and haul him back into the peloton, Armstrong made his final push.

With about 800 yards left of the 112-mile stage from Valreas, there was a group of five riders at the front -- Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer. Kloden tried the first sprint, then Basso took the lead until Armstrong stood hard on his pedals and swooped past him, flying through the final turn.

Just before Armstrong reached the finish line he looked over his shoulder to see where he’d left Basso, a 26-year-old Italian who had split two previous sprints with Armstrong, winning Friday in the first Pyrenees climb and losing Saturday in a second.

Armstrong crossed the line while pumping both fists high in the air. For extra emphasis, Armstrong shook his right fist again while shrieking his delight, relief and exultation into the sky.

Armstrong now leads the Tour by 1 minute, 25 seconds over Basso and by 3:22 over Germany’s Kloden. Ullrich, a five-time Tour runner-up, is 6:54 back, in fifth place behind Spaniard Francisco Mancebo. Leipheimer, who is from Santa Rosa and who rides for Dutch team Rabobank is in 10th place, 10:58 behind Armstrong.

“I have to say, it’s something very special winning in a sprint,” Armstrong said. “To win a stage alone is exciting and fun, but winning in a sprint is much more intense.”

Armstrong had worn the yellow jersey only once before in this Tour, after stage four’s team trial win by U.S. Postal. Now he has it again, for the 61st time in his racing career. Unless something unusual or calamitous happens, Armstrong is expected to hold it through today’s explosive time trial up L’Alpe d’Huez, the final two stages in the Alps on Thursday and Friday and Saturday’s flat time trial in Besancon. The race ends Sunday at the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

It was estimated Tuesday night that already a million people have lined the 9.6-mile route up to L’Alpe d’Huez, a village of 1,500, and that the drive to the top of the mountain was taking six hours.

Armstrong was already excited about what today might bring. He will start last of 158 racers in the time trial, another honor for the wearer of yellow.

“Part of me did want to ride a legendary mountain like L’Alpe d’Huez wearing the yellow jersey,” Armstrong said. Armstrong had been asked why he expended such energy at the end to sprint for the stage win when he already knew the maillot jaune was his.

Thomas Voeckler, the French rider for Brioches la Boulangere who had worn that jersey for 12 days, finally lost his legs when Ullrich attacked. At the end, Voeckler crossed the finish line in 54th place, 9:30 behind Armstrong. “I am proud of how I did,” Voeckler said. “I did not quit, not once, and now I have learned how to ride this Tour.”

Armstrong, of course, knows how to ride it like no other, having already won a record five consecutive Tours. That experience, plus his confidence in his team, kept him from being unnerved by Ullrich’s breakaway.

“We knew this course and there’s no descent from that climb,” Armstrong said. “There were two teams” -- U.S. Postal and Basso’s Team CSC -- “who were not going to let him get away. And that’s what happened. If I’d been by myself, I could have been destroyed.”

Instead, others are falling by the wayside.

Before the start of Tuesday’s stage Iban Mayo, the talented Spanish climber who had burst past Armstrong last month on a mountain climb during the Dauphine Libere warm-up race, making the American seem suddenly old, withdrew from the event.

It has been a punishing Tour. Mayo lost his will early when he tumbled on Belgian cobblestones. Tyler Hamilton, another hopeful, quit Saturday while suffering from a back injury he suffered in an early crash. Roberto Heras, who had been Armstrong’s climbing helper a year ago for Postal, left so he could lead his own team and win the Tour. Heras is in 44th place, 51 minutes, 22 seconds behind Armstrong.

Yet Armstrong seems as fresh as he did nearly two weeks ago when he had grabbed yellow for a day. While he has refused to say that he feels in charge of his record assault, Armstrong came close Tuesday.

“We can’t let up until Paris, the race is not over yet,” Armstrong said. “Tomorrow is still a ways from Paris but it will go a long way in shaking out who will be on that final podium.”

Basso said he was going to stay optimistic but thought today would be his last chance to take time from Armstrong.

Basso has forged a friendship with Armstrong, who has survived brain, lung and testicular cancer and has been helping Basso find the right treatments for his mother, who has pancreatic cancer.

“I expect Basso to be strong,” Armstrong said. “A lot of people expect, since it’s a time trial, it won’t be close, but I think it will be tough and that he’s come well-prepared. But now I have the good fortune of starting behind him so I’ll know his time splits all the way up. I’m excited to do this, excited to get on L’Alpe.”

For anyone thinking of beating Armstrong, those are ominous words.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Stage 15 at a Glance

The 15th stage of the 91st Tour de France:

* Stage: The first stage in the Alps from Valreas to Villard-de-Lans.

* Winner: Lance Armstrong, U.S., in 4 hours, 40 minutes, 30 seconds.

* How others fared: Ivan Basso, Italy, Team CSC, finished second in the same time as Armstrong. 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, Germany, T-Mobile, was third, three seconds behind.

* Yellow jersey: Armstrong pulled on the leader’s jersey for the 61st time in his career.

* Quote of the day: “It’s exciting to take the yellow jersey, even if it’s number 61. It’s still a thrill.” -- Armstrong, winner of the last five Tours.

OVERALL LEADERS

Lance Armstrong, U.S. 67:13:43

Ivan Basso, Italy 1:25 behind

3. Andreas Kloden, Germany 3:22 behind

Francisco Mancebo, Spain 5:39 behind

5. Jan Ullrich, Germany 6:54 behind

STAGE 15 RESULTS

1. Armstrong, U.S. 4:40:30

2. Basso, Italy same time

3. Ullrich, Germany :03 behind

4. Kloden, Germany :06 behind

5. Levi Leipheimer, U.S. :13 behind

**

A Glance at Lance

Updating Lance Armstrong’s bid for a record sixth Tour de France championship:

* Tuesday’s results: Armstrong edged Ivan Basso in a sprint to the finish line to win the 15th stage, completing a 112-mile race featuring seven climbs through the Alps, from Valreas to Villard-de-Lans.

* Overall standings: Regaining the lead, Armstrong opened a 1:25 lead over Basso.

* Today’s race: The 16th stage is a 9.6-mile time trial up the L’Alpe d’Huez, a legendary climb featuring 21 switchbacks with nearly a million spectators expected to be lining the route. The Outdoor Life Network will show the race live at 5:30 a.m., with replays at 9, 11:30, 2 p.m., 6 and 9.