Armstrong, With Little Help, Is Feeling the Heat

Lance Armstrong looked left and saw Jan Ullrich. He looked right and saw Alexandre Vinokourov. Up ahead Armstrong knew Andreas Kloeden was already gone. Three men dressed in pink and riding for the German T-Mobile team.

What Armstrong couldn’t see Saturday at the Tour de France were any of his Discovery Channel teammates, not his constant companion George Hincapie, who had started the day in second place and who dropped to eighth. Not his trusty climbing buddies Jose Azevedo, who finished fifth in the Tour last year (he’s 15th now) or Jose Luis Rubiera or Manuel Beltran.

For the first time in a long time, Armstrong was alone and he couldn’t reel in all the breakaway riders.

Kloeden, who lost the 143.8-mile stage from Pforzheim in Germany to this lakeside village near the Vosges Mountains in a photo finish to 24-year-old Dutchman Pieter Weening, moved into ninth place overall. Kloeden was the Tour’s runner-up last year. Weening won the stage in 5 hours 3 minutes 54 seconds. Armstrong finished 20th, 27 seconds behind the winner.

CSC, the Danish-based team that represents an El Segundo company, has four riders in the top 10 now with American Bobby Julich fourth and last year’s third-place finisher Ivan Basso in fifth.

Vinokourov, the rider from Kazakhstan whose trunk-sized thighs are great for climbing and whose aggressive personality makes him eager to attack, is lurking in third place. Ullrich, the 1997 champion and a five-time Tour runner-up, is up to sixth, after a disappointing opening time trial a week ago had left him 12th. Moving into second place was another German, CSC’s Jens Voigt, who is one minute behind Armstrong.

“Only so many fires I can put out alone,” Armstrong said later.

During the first serious climb, Armstrong’s Discovery Channel teammates weren’t able to keep up with the 33-year-old six-time defending champion.

So on a breezy afternoon on the way up the Col de la Schlucht, Armstrong was alone. Vinokourov, who missed last year’s race because of an injury, attacked first on the 10.2-mile final climb. Armstrong chased but his teammates didn’t have the legs left to follow.

“I was trying to do my best and minimize the damage,” Armstrong said. “If it’s two more weeks like today, then I’m in trouble. There was really nothing we could do about it. Sometimes we have a bad day. I think maybe the team has been working more than we need to this week.”

By that Armstrong apparently meant that too much focus has been placed on keeping him in the yellow jersey that was won Tuesday in the team time trial stage.

“Obviously with the [yellow] jersey you need to do a little bit of work and try and control things,” he said. “It’s not really fair to say without speaking to them. But when I get back to the hotel I will say, ‘Hey, guys, what happened?’ There’s a long way to go, but this was not a good start for us. We held on to the jersey, but I think there’s some bruised egos for our team.”

Vinokourov said he was pleased with the results of his attacking. “We really tested Armstrong’s legs,” Vinokourov said through a team spokesman. “We saw Armstrong was in pretty good form but that his team is not. It’s a good sign.”

“I’ve never seen that team implode like that,” said Julich, who used to ride with Armstrong. “I don’t think Lance understood what was going on. Maybe T-Mobile is a lot stronger than anyone thought. We’ve got a race on our hands.”

By the end of the stage Discovery Channel’s Hincapie, Azevedo and Yaroslav Popovych were left a minute behind the main peloton while Paolo Savoldelli, who had won the Giro d’Italia in May, and climbing stalwarts Rubiera and Beltran were almost two minutes behind them.

In today’s 106.3-mile stage to Mulhouse, there are six rated climbs including the first Category I climb (the toughest of climbs). Armstrong doesn’t want to find himself alone again. “I know these guys,” Armstrong said, “and I’m sure they are more disappointed with their performance than I am. I had a bad day too. I expect they’ll come back strong tomorrow.”

The mountains, even the early smaller ones, can be cruel. Dave Zabriskie, who was grinning and triumphant a week ago after winning the first stage and putting on the yellow jersey, finished last in this stage. He’s now 51 minutes 12 seconds behind the leaders and in 179th place. Christophe Mengin, who had crashed less than a kilometer from winning the stage that ended in his hometown of Nancy on Thursday, couldn’t pull in enough air through the nose he had broken in that fall and he tearfully withdrew Saturday.

But mountains don’t scare Vinokourov. The 31-year-old sped up once and Armstrong chased him down. Vinokourov surged ahead again and Armstrong chased again but this time with Ullrich on his tail. After a third attack by Vinokourov, Kloeden used his teammates’ momentum and shot ahead. This time Armstrong stayed behind, marking Vinokourov and Ullrich. “I was isolated,” Armstrong said, “and I was suffering.”

As Armstrong stood alone at the end through the daily ceremony where he is re-awarded the yellow jersey, the Texan was smiling. But he soon lost that smile. “Just because I’ve won six Tours,” he said, “the seventh isn’t going to be any easier.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

STAGE 8 AT A GLANCE

* Stage: A 143.8-mile route starting in Pforzheim, Germany, before crossing back into France to finish in Gerardmer. It featured five hills, including the hardest climb of the race so far -- the Col de la Schlucht.

* Winner: Pieter Weening, Netherlands, in 5 hours 3 minutes 54 seconds.

* How others fared: Andreas Kloeden, Germany, T-Mobile, finished second in the same time as Weening; Jan Ullrich, Germany, T-Mobile, finished sixth; Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, T-Mobile, finished 10th; Lance Armstrong, U.S., Discovery Channel, finished 20th. All three were 27 seconds back from Weening and Kloeden.

* Yellow jersey: Armstrong retains the overall lead -- 1 minute ahead of Jens Voigt and 62 seconds ahead of Vinokourov.

* Quote of the day: “Definitely a crisis in our team today. If it’s two more weeks of days like today, then you’re in trouble.” -- Armstrong, after struggling up the first serious climb of the Tour.

* 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.

OVERALL LEADERS

Lance Armstrong, U.S. 28:06:17

Jens Voigt, Germany 1:00 behind

Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan 1:02 behind

Bobby Julich, U.S. 1:07 behind

Ivan Basso, Italy 1:26 behind

STAGE 8 RESULTS

1. Pieter Weening, Netherlands 5:03:54

2. Andreas Kloeden, Germany 5:03:54

3. Alejandro Valverde, Spain :27 behind

4. Kim Kirchen, Luxembourg :27 behind

5. Jens Voigt, Germany :27 behind