LUZ ARDIDEN, France, July 21 - Lance Armstrong crashed to the roadway on the last of six climbs today in the Pyrenees, then picked himself up and said, "Lance, if you want to win the Tour, attack."

He did, with force. He built an overall lead of 1 minute 7 seconds over Jan Ullrich of Germany, up from a shaky 15 seconds, and took a big step toward his fifth consecutive victory in the Tour de France.

Despite the show of restored power after a week of subpar performances, Armstrong was wary of talking about victory before the final of four stages in the Pyrenees and a long time trial on Saturday.

"The Tour finishes on the Champs-Élysées," he said, referring to the race's final leg on Sunday. "Ullrich is a great rider. Anything is still possible."

Armstrong fell to the pavement after hitting a spectator with about five and a half miles left in the climb to Luz Ardiden, a resort town.

He remounted and sped to join the main group, which had slowed at the urging of Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's former lieutenant with the United States Postal Service team and now the leader of the CSC team. Cycling's unwritten code of chivalry dictates that riders not take advantage of the leader when he has crashed.

Armstrong encountered another mishap when his right foot came out of its pedal, but once he corrected his wobble, he raced away and nobody could catch him. It was his first stage victory in this year's Tour, although his team previously won a time trial.

With his face set in a grimace of determination, Armstrong rode as he had in the mountains in his four Tour victories and as he had not done in this race - with facility and suppleness.

"I wasn't angry when I attacked," he said, "I was desperate to gain time on Ullrich before the time trial."

He finished 40 seconds ahead of Ullrich and received a 20-second bonus for his victory. Ullrich, the leader of the Bianchi team, received an eight-second bonus for finishing third, making the margin between the two 1:07.

Alexandre Vinokourov, a Kazakh with Telekom who was 18 seconds back in third place before this 15th of 20 daily stages, lost more than two minutes. Still third over all, he now trails by 2:45.

Armstrong was timed in 4 hours 29 minutes 26 seconds, for an average speed of 35.5 kilometers an hour (22.1 miles an hour) over the 159.5 kilometers (99.1 miles) from Bagnères de Bigorre in cool weather that turned warm whenever the sun came out.

Of the six peaks climbed during this, the major stage in the Pyrenees, the final two - the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden - are rated beyond category in length, steepness and difficulty.

With huge crowds watching at the finish, Armstrong crossed the line shrouded in fog. On the way up, he overtook the lone survivor of an early two-man breakaway, Sylvain Chavanel, a Frenchman with Brioches la Boulangère.

As he passed Chavanel, Armstrong patted him on the back for his exploit, which was only a small part of an epic stage.

At a news conference afterward, Armstrong blamed himself for the crash. "It was my fault for riding too close on the right side of the road," he said.

He fell and grazed his left arm after bumping into a spectator who was leaning onto the road. Crashing atop him was Iban Mayo, a Spaniard with Euskaltel-Euskadi, who was also impeded later when Armstrong's foot came out of the pedal.

Mayo showed the same spunk Armstrong did, finishing second in the stage, 40 seconds behind, and remaining in fifth place over all.

Armstrong was asked whether he knew that Ullrich and other riders high in the standing had waited for him after the crash and whether he would have done the same.

"I did know that," he said. "Would I have done the same? I did do the same when Ullrich crashed on the Peyresourde two years ago. I waited. What he did today was the correct thing. What I did then was the correct thing. I appreciate what he did. As we say, 'What goes around, comes around.' "

As he spoke, his body language seemed totally changed from what it had been the last few days, when he had looked weary and disappointed. Now he was the old Armstrong, in command and confident.

But, he continued: "This has been a crisis-filled Tour. There have been a lot of strange things happening, things I haven't talked about. This is a Tour of too many problems - close calls, near misses. I wish it would stop. I wish I could have some uneventful days."

Still, he said, "It was a good day."

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com

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Lance Armstrong to Divorce
Thu Sep 4, 200311:05 AM ET

DALLAS (Reuter) - Five time Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong and his wife have decided to end their five-year marriage, a daily newspaper in Austin reported on Thursday.

"We both have (legal) representation, and we're doing this peacefully," Armstrong told the Austin American-Statesman. "The craziest thing is, we're closer now and better friends than ever before."

Armstrong told the paper the couple separated two weeks ago, after they moved back to their home in Austin, Texas, from their home in Spain. Armstrong and his wife, Kristin, are living in separate houses in Austin as they work out a mediated divorce settlement.

"We're truly committed to maintaining a good relationship, but not a marriage," Armstrong told the paper.

The couple first separated in late January. They have three children -- a 3-year-old boy and twin girls who are almost 2 years old.

"It's an unfortunate situation," Kristin Armstrong told the paper. "We are making the best of it for the sake of our kids."

The couple first met in 1997, a few weeks after Armstrong had completed a chemotherapy regimen to treat his advanced testicular cancer.

Armstrong was not immediately available for comment.

The 31-year-old Armstrong joined cycling's most select club earlier this year with his fifth win on the Tour de France, joining Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only men to have achieved the feat.

Armstrong has pledged he will be better prepared next year than he was in this Tour, calling his condition "unacceptable."

Source: www.yahoo.com

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