By Any Color, Armstrong Stays in Lead

Lance Armstrong tried to make a gesture. He rode to the start line in Chambord for Stage 5 of the Tour de France on Wednesday wearing his Discovery Channel team colors of blue, gray and white instead of the yellow jersey he had earned a day earlier when Discovery won the team time trial.

It was, Armstrong said, out of respect for David Zabriskie, a fellow American who had crashed hard within the last mile Tuesday. Without the crash Zabriskie might have held onto the yellow jersey that he had worn since winning Saturday’s first stage and his CSC team might have beaten Discovery instead of losing by two seconds.

“In light of the tradition of the last 30 or 40 years,” Armstrong said, “no one really takes the yellow if there’s a crash. So we decided to leave it empty today. For me, it wouldn’t be right to wear it.”

But wear it he did. Armstrong said Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc told him there would be no gesture. “There was no negotiating. He said, ‘If you don’t start with that jersey, you don’t start tomorrow,’ ” Armstrong said. So Armstrong shrugged and slipped into the leader’s yellow.

Armstrong, 33, the six-time defending champion who is hoping for No. 7 before he retires after the Tour ends in Paris July 24, will wear yellow again today. There was no change among the top leaders after Wednesday’s 113.7-mile stage, which began in the shadow of France’s largest chateau, Chambord, and ended on the wet and windy streets in Montargis.

Robbie McEwen, an Australian riding for Davitamon-Lotto, shot past Belgian Tom Boonen in a madcap sprint finish to take the stage in 3 hours 46 minutes. Boonen, riding for Quickstep, had already won the second and third stages this year and had led Armstrong to predict the 24-year-old might win “six or seven more in this race because he’s so strong.”

Armstrong finished 45th and rode in a phalanx of teammates who escorted him safely through a day that saw five crashes. Zabriskie’s CSC teammate Ivan Basso, considered one of the pre-race favorites, went down in a heap early but he finished the race and retained his 10th-place overall classification, 1:26 behind Armstrong and just behind ninth-place Zabriskie, who needed stitches in his elbow and who rode with a swollen left knee and sore ribs through Wednesday’s stage.

According to Tour history, in 1971 Eddy Merckx didn’t wear the yellow the day after he’d won it because leader Luis Ocana crashed on the Col de Mente climb. In 1991 American Greg LeMond didn’t wear the yellow after winning it when Rolf Sorenson broke his collarbone at the end of a stage. And in 1998 Erik Zabel refused the yellow for a day after leader Chris Boardman crashed out in Ireland.

But the Tour rule book states the overall leader “must wear” the yellow jersey. Tour spokesman Christophe Marchadier said race organizers met briefly outside the Chambord chateau and decided to ask Armstrong to wear it.

Zabriskie, smiling despite all his stitches and bruises, said he appreciated Armstrong’s sentiment. “It was nice,” Zabriskie said. The 26-year-old rider from Salt Lake City downplayed his injuries, saying before Wednesday’s stage that he felt “stiff. It’s a little hard to breathe, my knee hurts. That’s what happens when you fall off.”

On French television immediately after the race, Armstrong said, “It didn’t feel right to take the jersey on somebody else’s misfortune, but Jean-Marie had other ideas. I wanted to try and do the right thing and make some sort of sporting gesture.”

Leblanc said that in the other occasions when a leader gave up the jersey for a day, the rider who had crashed was forced to leave the Tour entirely for the year while Zabriskie was still competing.

It was a dangerous day for the racing. Although the course was generally flat, whipping winds and intermittent showers and downpours kept riders nervous.

And there was more emotion than usual shown by the stage winner. McEwen passed in front of the race jury and pointed boastfully to his chest with his fingers. The jury had moved McEwen from third to last after Stage 3, ruling that McEwen had leaned into fellow Australian Stuart O’Grady during a sprint finish.

McEwen said the jury ignored an elbow O’Grady had tossed his way a moment earlier and lamented that with his demotion the race for the green jersey -- the honor given the cyclist who amasses the most points in the course of the Tour by finishing well in a series of sprint races within each stage -- was all but over because Boonen has such a big lead.

“It was a pretty harsh decision,” McEwen said, “and it has put a pretty big hole in the green jersey competition. It is not looking half as interesting as in the last couple of years. I’m not trying to blame anyone, but I definitely didn’t make the first move and it didn’t affect any other riders. I was more disappointed, not at the actions of any other rider but more of the decision of the jury.”

But the commotion over green jerseys took second place to the hubbub over the wearing of the yellow, putting Armstrong in the front as usual.

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STAGE 5 AT A GLANCE

* Stage: A 113.7-mile ride from Chambord to Montargis favoring sprinters.

* Winner: Robbie McEwen, Australia, Davitamon-Lotto, in 3 hours 46 minutes.

* How others fared: Tom Boonen, Belgium, Quick Step, finished second; Thor Hushovd, Norway, Credit Agricole, finished third. Lance Armstrong, United States, Discovery Channel, was 45th in the main pack. All were awarded the same time as McEwen.

* Yellow jersey: Armstrong retains the overall lead.

* Quote of the day: “It was a pretty harsh decision, and it has put a pretty big hole in the green jersey competition.” -- McEwen, who was dropped from third to last in Stage 3 after the race jury ruled he had leaned into another racer during a sprint finish. The green jersey goes to the sprint leader.

* On the web: For more information on the Tour de France, including Diane Pucin’s blog, photo galleries and up-to-the-minute standings, please visit latimes.com/tour.

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OVERALL LEADERS

Lance Armstrong, U.S. 13:45:12

George Hincapie, U.S. 0:55 behind

Jens Voigt, Germany 1:04 behind

Bobby Julich, U.S. 1:07 behind

5. Jose Luis Rubiera, Spain 1:14 behind

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STAGE 5 RESULTS

1. Robbie McEwen, Australia 3:46

2. Tom Boonen, Belgium 3:46

3. Thor Hushovd, Norway 3:46

4. Stuart O’Grady, Australia 3:46

5. Angelo Furlan, Italy 3:46