Steady Focus on One in Tour

Maybe Lance Armstrong will ride the 2005 Tour de France. Maybe he won’t. But he’s livening up the 2004 Tour even when he’s not winning back-to-back-to-back stages or preparing to set a record with his sixth consecutive victory.

Comments on Friday from anonymous Tour de France officials in two publications saying that Armstrong had already decided not to try for a seventh title set off a day of speculation. Will he or won’t he?

Armstrong himself was noncommittal about his 2005 plans. He said he would definitely be racing but whether it will be at the Tour or in other famous races that he has been criticized for not attempting -- the Giro d’Italia and Spain’s Vuelta, the most prominent among them -- he was unwilling to say.

“I haven’t made a schedule yet,” Armstrong said after Friday’s 18th stage. “It’s fair to say there’s still a lot of things I’d like to do in cycling, things that require a different type of focus.

“I think at some point I have to start to look at other races in cycling. There are still a lot of things I want to do in cycling.”

On Friday, Armstrong finished in a pack with his main rivals, nearly 12 minutes after the winner, Spain’s Juan Miguel Mercado, who is far behind in the overall standings. With only today’s 34-mile time trial in Besancon and Sunday’s triumphant drive into Paris left on Armstrong’s Tour schedule this year, the 32-year-old Texan kept hold of his four-minute, nine-second lead over second-place Ivan Basso. Only an unlikely crash would keep Armstrong from doing what no one has ever done.

His trainer, Chris Carmichael, said he thought it more likely that Armstrong would win today’s stage and tack another two minutes onto his lead than anything untoward would happen. Carmichael also believes Armstrong ultimately won’t be able to turn down a chance to race in France again. It just might not be next summer.

“He’s focused so intensely on this single thing the last six years,” Carmichael said. “I’m only speculating, but it would be natural to expand what he wants to achieve and look for other challenges. But I’d be surprised if he doesn’t do another Tour before he retires.”

No one from Armstrong’s team, U.S. Postal Service, had a definitive answer. Team spokesman Jogi Mueller said it was “50-50” whether Armstrong would race the Tour de France, and team manager Johan Bruyneel said on French television, “We haven’t spoken about the program either with him or the other riders. Personally, I think that for Lance it would be very hard for him to motivate himself without the Tour de France.”

However, this is the final year U.S. Postal is sponsoring the team. Last spring it was announced the Discovery Channel had signed a three-year, multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal. There has been speculation that the contract stipulates only that Armstrong will race for the Discovery Channel team but doesn’t tie him to any particular race.

“I have to discuss it with them,” Armstrong said. “If they give me the green light [to try other races], I might do it. But if they say, ‘Lance, we’d like you to do the Tour,’ I understand that too.”

Discovery Channel executives flew to France on Thursday and network spokesman David Leavy said Friday that the company does want Armstrong riding the Tour next year.

“From Discovery’s point of view, we certainly hope he races next year here and for years to come,” Leavy said. “But right now we’re just focused on Saturday and Sunday and Lance winning this year.”

That’s a given, though the security of his lead didn’t stop Armstrong from settling a personal score during Friday’s 103-mile stage from Annemasse, near Geneva, out of the Alps and into the Jura region.

About 20 miles into the stage, Filippo Simeoni, a minor rider for a minor Italian team, Domina Vacanze, took off trying to join a breakaway group of leading riders, none of whom were within an hour of Armstrong’s overall lead.

In a move that stunned many, annoyed some, and maybe, according to Armstrong at least, pleased others, the wearer of the yellow jersey left the protection of his team to pursue Simeoni.

It was not for the pleasure of the chase. Simeoni has a lawsuit pending in Italy against Armstrong accusing the American of defamation. Two years ago, Simeoni testified in Italian court that Dr. Michele Ferrari had advised him to use illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. Ferrari is a consultant to Armstrong and Armstrong called Simeoni a liar in a French newspaper interview.

Normally one of Armstrong’s teammates would do the work of chasing down a breakaway if it was perceived a threat. When Simeoni and Armstrong caught the six-man breakaway group, Armstrong made it clear to the others that unless Simeoni dropped back, Armstrong would challenge them all.

According to several members of the group, Simeoni was asked to drop back so that the others could race for the stage win, something that would be much more difficult with Armstrong among them. Without any support, a discouraged Simeoni dropped back, eventually finishing the stage in 145th place.

According to Italian reporters, Simeoni said, “Armstrong demonstrated to the entire world what type of person he is. It is not reasonable that a great champion doesn’t give a chance to a small rider like me and the others.”

Armstrong said he made his move “to benefit the peloton. All [Simeoni] wants to do is destroy cycling and destroy the sport that pays him,” adding that other riders congratulated him when he returned to the peloton. “He’s not a rider who thinks about other riders and the group in general.”

Winning rider Mercado, 26, earned his first-ever Tour stage victory in a sprint finish with fellow Spaniard Vicente Garcia Acosta. Mercado called Armstrong’s move “bizarre.”

But this Tour has belonged to Armstrong since he began winning mountain stages last weekend in the Pyrenees. His stamp has been put on the race nearly every day since.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Out in Front

The top three after the 18th stage of the Tour de France:

1. Lance Armstrong, U.S.

78 hours, 20 minutes, 28 seconds

2. Ivan Basso, Italy

4 minutes, 9 seconds behind

3. Andreas Kloden, Germany

5 minutes, 11 seconds behind

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Stage 18 at a Glance

The 18th stage of the 91st Tour de France:

* Stage: A 103.2-mile trek from Annemasse to Lons-le-Saunier.

* Winner: Juan Miguel Mercado, Spain, Quick Step-Davitamon, 4 hours 4 minutes 3 seconds.

* How others fared: Vicente Garcia Acosta, Spain, Illes Balears-B. Santander, same time, second place; Dmitriy Fofonov, Kazakhstan, Cofidis Credit Par Telephone, 11 seconds behind, third place.

* Yellow jersey: Lance Armstrong, United States, U.S. Postal Service.

* Quote of the day: “I’m not saying I would never do it again. I would absolutely.”

-- Lance Armstrong, on the possibility of not racing in the 2005 Tour.

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*--* OVERALL LEADERS STAGE 18 RESULTS 1. Lance Armstrong, U.S. 1. Juan Miguel Mercado, Spain 78:20:28 4:04:03 2. Ivan Basso, Italy 4:09 behind 2. Vicente Garcia Acosta, Spain same time 3. Andreas Kloden, Germany 5:11 3. Dmitriy Fofonov, Kazakhstan :11 behind behind 4. Jan Ullrich, Germany 8:08 4. Sebastien Joly, France :11 behind behind 5. Jose Azevedo, Portugal 10:41 5. Marc Lotz, Netherlands :11 behind behind

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