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Armstrong ruffled by Spanish armada

BOURG D’OISANS (France): Americans Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton would be forgiven for admitting they had endured one of their toughest tests on the Tour de France after the second day of climbing in the Alps.

Armstrong, who is favourite to win a fifth consecutive yellow jersey, for once appeared human as he admitted to having had an off-day after Spaniard Iban Mayo, following a series of attacks on the American, was allowed to climb to a thrilling first stage win on the Tour. Armstrong has in the past four years dominated the world’s biggest race with many of his knockout punches being delivered to his main rivals in the Alps or Pyrenees. However on Sunday, when the 219km eighth stage crawled over four sun-drenched climbs before ending on the summit of the legendary Alpe d’Huez, the 31-year-old American appeared ruffled as Mayo, Joseba Beloki and even former team-mate Hamilton took their chances with him. “I wasn’t bluffing today,” said Armstrong after the race, referring to his poker stunt two years ago when he pretended to Jan Ullrich that he was struggling before blasting his way past Germany’s 1997 Tour winner. “I could tell I wasn’t on a great day on the Galibier (climb). And when that happens you just have to make the decision to ride a conservative race. “But when you’ve got the experience to know that it’s not a great day, you don’t even make a show,” added Armstrong, whose main rival Beloki stuck with him throughout the day’s five climbs.

Mayo, a 25-year-old Basque with the Euskaltel team, has been a promising talent for years. But after he disappointed on his Tour debut last year, the little climber has kept a low profile until this season when he put Armstrong to the sword on a number of occasions, notably at the Dauphine Libere race in June.

Although Mayo says he doesn’t have any pretensions of winning the Tour, his escape act from Armstrong’s group on the 14.1km climb to the legendary summit on Sunday will not have gone unnoticed by the man known as ‘Le Boss’. “I decided just to let Mayo go and limit my losses and cover Beloki because he’s the closest in the (general) classification,” added Armstrong, who might be advised nonetheless to keep a tight rein on the Spanish armada.

Ibanesto.com team manager Jose-Miguel Echavarri, for one, feels the eighth stage revealed a few things about the state of the Tour hierarchy. “To me the stage showed that things are changing in the Tour peloton as compared to the past few years,” said the Spaniard, whose rider Francisco Mancebo claimed fourth place behind Armstrong at the summit. “I think that this year the Spanish riders such as Mayo, (Haimar) Zubeldia and Mancebo are going to give Armstrong a few more problems than usual. “Armstrong certainly remains the favourite, but his rivals now know that they can cause him problems, they can attack him and they know he can be beaten. “I think a psychological barrier has been broken.”

Hamilton, a former right hand man of Armstrong’s at the US Postal team, had other things on his mind. The 32-year-old team leader of the Danish CSC team has been riding since the second day with a fractured collarbone and requires painkilling injections and heavy strapping just so he can hold on to the handlebars.

However Hamilton was inspirational as he stayed with Armstrong’s group and even attacked on a number of occasions. “I know how Lance works when he’s climbing the mountains so I stuck on his wheel. I knew he was going to make a quick attack then slow down a bit,” said Hamilton whose heroic efforts have landed him in sixth place overall. —AFP

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