It finally happened. American Lance Armstrong gave up the yellow jersey on Sunday in the 9th stage of the Tour de France.
But being the guy always in charge, he pretty much picked the new overall leader of the race — Jens Voigt (right), a German on the Danish Team CSC. Voigt won't be a major threat later in the mountains and there's little chance he can keep the lead all the way to Paris in two weeks.
Voigt picked up the yellow jersey when he and Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) crossed the finish line 3 minutes behind stage winner, Mickael Rasmussen of Rabobank. The Danish rider led the field nearly the entire 106-mile mountainous stage from Gérardmer to Mulhouse.
Armstrong told the BBC: “I felt today might be the day we gave the jersey away or the jersey was taken away and sure enough it was.
“It was not a priority to keep it, but it's always a special jersey to have on your back.
“But it's a long race and now it's the last 10 days which matter.”
Armstrong, fully supported today by his Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, hasn't allowed his main rivals to gain much time on him. T-Mobile's Alexandre Vinokourov did sneak ahead for 19 seconds several days ago, but that didn't happen again, even yesterday when Armstrong found himself isolated at the front on the final climb. Even with the shakeup of the overall leaders today, Armstrong remains ahead of T-Mobile's Vinokourov, Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden, and CSC's Ivan Basso.
When racing resumes on Tuesday (Monday is a rest day), it will be interesting to see what strategy CSC's race director Bjarne Riis employs. When American David Zabriskie (wearing the yellow jersey) crashed in the final kilometers of the team time trial on Tuesday, his team left him behind on the pavement. How hard will the team work to keep Voigt in the yellow when the race enters the Alps on Tuesday? CSC has two other riders in the top 10 — Basso and US's Bobby Julich — who have a better chance of a podium position in Paris.
Meanwhile, Zabriskie abandoned the race on the road today. The powerful cyclist from Utah won the yellow jersey on the first day and held it until he crashed in Tuesday's race. He dropped further back a couple of days later after another accident and hasn't fully recovered. With his opening day win, Zabriskie became the first American to win a stage in each of the major Euro Tours — the Tour de France, Vuelta d'Espana, and Giro d'Italia.
The new line up for the leaders after the 9th stage:
Voigt (1, CSC);
Moreau (2, Credit Agricole) 1:50 behind;
Armstrong (3, Discovery) 2:18 behind;
Rasmussen (4, Rabobank) 2:43 behind;
Vinokourov (5, T-Mobile) 3:20 behind;
Julich (6, CSC) 3:25 behind;
Basso (7, CSC) 3:44 behind;
Ullrich (8, T-Mobile) 3:54 behind;
Carlos Sastre (9, CSC) 3:54 behind;
George Hincapie (10, Discovery) 4:05 behind, and
Andreas Kloden (11, T-Mobile) 4:08 behind.
The Americans still in the race: Armstrong (1, Discovery), Julich (6, CSC), Hincapie (10, Discovery), Floyd Landis (12, Phonak), Levi Leipheimer (16, Gerolsteiner), Chris Horner (43, Saunier Duval-Prodir), Fred Rodriguez (110, Davitamon), and Guido Trenti (152, Quick.Step).
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