Lance Armstrong faces a huge challenge if he wants to win the weeklong Dauphiné Libéré bicycle race in southeastern France this year.
After climbing into second place on Thursday, he fell to fourth — 3 minutes and 12 seconds behind the overall leader — after Axel Merckx shook up the overall standings by winning the grueling 135-mile stage on Friday.
The race leaders were unable, or unwilling, to chase down Merckx's solo breakaway on one of the day's five climbs. A group containing Inigo Landaluze eventually took off in pursuit, which propelled the Spanish rider for Euskaltel-Euskadi into first place overall after finishing a little more than 2 minutes behind Merckx.
Americans Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), Armstrong (Discovery Channel) and Floyd Landis (Phonak) — previously in places 1, 2, and 4 — finished in a group nearly 10 minutes behind the winner. It knocked them back to 3rd, 4th, and 6th place, respectively.
Two more days of racing remain for the Dauphiné Libéré. Then everyone licks their wounds and prepares for the Tour de France beginning July 2. Armstrong is going for an unprecedented 7th win in this year's Tour.
More news on the race is available at VeloNews and CyclingNews or the French language Dauphiné Libéré website.
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