Lance Armstrong climbed back into the yellow jersey in the 10th Stage of the Tour de France today.
Until today, I wanted to see someone else in the yellow jersey for awhile. But there's a reason why Armstrong is the dominant rider in this race and it was never more obvious than today. His Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team destroyed most of the competition, and Armstrong finished off most of the rest on the steep slopes to Courchevel.
You can stick a fork in Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden. Those T-Mobile riders look like they're done.
So are most of the other pre-ride favorites after Armstrong and his Discovery team fried the peloton on the 14-mile climb to Courchevel.
Even though the Discovery team didn't have a yellow jersey to protect, they set the pace for the peloton through the valleys and the first category 1 climb in today's 112-mile stage. According to CSC's Bobby Julich interviewed on OLN, his team wasn't going to try to keep teammate Jens Voigt in the yellow jersey. CSC and T-Mobile let Discovery lead the way.
On the final climb up Courchevel, Yaroslav Popovych was the last Discovery domestique to lead the peloton. By then, Voigt had cracked and was way down the hill. Then Vinokourov slipped off the back, then Ullrich and Kloden. When Popovych was finished Armstrong took over and further decimated the field.
At the end, only three riders hung on with Armstrong; king of the mountains leader Mickael Rasmussen, eventual stage winner Alejandro Valverde, and Francisco Mancebo.
Today was supposed to be a “warm-up” day after Monday's rest. Not so. Tomorrow, more mountain climbs in the Alps.
The overall leaders are now:
Armstrong (1 again, Discovery);
Rasmussen (2, Rabobank) 38 seconds behind;
Ivan Basso (3, CSC) 2:40;
Christophe Moreau (4, Credit Agricole) 2:42;
Valverde (5, Illes Balears) 3:16;
Levi Leipheimer (6, Gerolsteiner) 3:58;
Mancebo (7, Illes Balears) 4:00;
Ullrich (8, T-Mobile) 4:02;
Kloden (9, T-Mobile) 4:16; and
Floyd Landis (10, Phonak) also 4:16.
Full Tour de France results are available at CyclingNews.
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