Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Armstrong just misses Tour lead

TOUR DE FRANCE
Date: 4 July - 26 July
Coverage: BBC Sport website: text commentary of each stage and streamed BBC commentary of the last 90 minutes of each stage available; commentary on selected stages on BBC 5 Live sports extra

Armstrong drove on Astana but he missed out on yellow by less than a second
Armstrong drove on Astana but he missed out on yellow by less than a second

Lance Armstrong's Astana team narrowly failed to put the seven-time Tour de France winner back in the yellow jersey after a thrilling team time trial.

Astana won the 39km lap of Montpellier but ended two tenths of a second shy of wiping out Fabian Cancellara's lead and putting Armstrong top of the podium.

The Texan's outfit needed to beat Cancellara's Saxo Bank team by more than 40 seconds to put him in yellow.

Astana beat Garmin-Slipstream into second with Saxo Bank in third.

After four stages, Armstrong, who retired after winning the last of his record seventh title in 2005, now has the same overall time as race leader Cancellara.

His Astana team-mate and 2007 champion Alberto Contador is third, 19 seconds back.

"We thought we had it," said Armstrong, whose team clocked 46 minutes and 29 seconds.

606: DEBATE
What did you make of stage four?

"Based on the time splits on the course we thought we were close or thereabouts but, hey, that's cycling.

"We looked at our performance and we can say we did our best. We won the stage and gained time on our main rivals."

Armstrong moved up seven places from 10th to third after Monday's equally dramatic third stage, and showed that he intends to stay in contention for an eighth Tour crown, despite a team which boasts pre-race favourite Contador as well as the impressive Levi Leipheimer.

The American would have become the oldest man to wear the yellow jersey if he had pipped Cancellara, but afterwards he suggested that he may not be able to keep up his challenge.

"I wanted to be one of the strongest in the race," he said. "I think that I am but I may not be the strongest to win. I think someone on this team will win.

"It's the tour, I know the tour and how to race it. Sometimes it pays to be old and experienced and not young and strong. We'll take it day by day.

"I don't think the jersey changes hands until Andorra."

Astana lost four of their riders early in a race which saw several teams crash, but they held on to edge the Garmin team of Britons David Millar and Bradley Wiggins by 18 seconds.

Italian outfit Liquigas came fourth at 58secs, one second ahead of Columbia.

Defending yellow jersey champion Carlos Sastre suffered his second big setback on the race, after losing time to key rivals in the opening stage time trial, when his Cervelo team finished eighth at 1:37 behind Astana.

Stage four result:

1. Astana 46 minutes 29 seconds
2. Garmin-Slipstream + 18 secs
3. Team Saxo Bank + 40 secs
4. Liquigas +58 secs
5. Team Columbia-High Road +59 secs
6. Team Katusha +1 min 23 secs
7. Caisse d'Epargne +1 min 29 secs
8. Cervelo Test Team +1 min 37 secs
9. AG2R La Mondiale +1 min 48 secs
10. Euskaltel-Euskadi +2 min 09 secs

Overall Standings:

1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/Saxo Bank) 10 hours 38 minutes 07 seconds
2. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana) same time
3. Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) +19 secs
4. Andreas Kloden (Ger/Astana) +23 secs
5. Levi Leipheimer (US/Astana) +31 secs
6. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) +38 secs
7. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa/Astana) +51 secs
8. Tony Martin (Ger/Team Columbia) +52 secs
9. David Zabriskie (US/Garmin) +1 min 06 secs
10. David Millar (GB/Garmin) +1 min 07 secs

Selected others:

30. Carlos Sastre (Spa/Cervelo) +2 min 44 secs
36. Cadel Evans (Aus/Silence) +2 min 59 secs
61. Mark Cavendish (GB/Team Columbia) +3 min 33 secs
161. Charlie Weglius (GB/Silence) +8 min 09 secs.

ะพ 6:47 AM

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