CHAMROUSSE, France -- Lance Armstrong hunched over the
handlebars, lowered his head and gritted his teeth as he powered up
the steep mountain climb from Grenoble to Chamrousse.
|  | | Lance Armstrong passes a fan dressed in a devil's costume en route to winning the 11th stage on Wednesday. |
This time, he wasn't bluffing. But the end result was the same
Wednesday.
The Texan blew away his rivals for a second day running and took
another big step toward a third Tour de France title.
"We're getting closer and closer to the yellow jersey,"
Armstrong said after finishing the uphill time-trial a minute
faster than his main rival, Germany's Jan Ullrich.
Taking the start in fourth from last position, the U.S. Postal
Service rider pedaled at a tempo that made the 5,019-foot climb
high into the French Alps look effortless.
Some 2½ miles from the finish, he had set a time 42 seconds
faster than Ullrich's. In the final uphill stretch, he extended the
margin by a further 18 seconds, clocking a time of 1 hour, 7
minutes, 27 seconds.
But it wasn't enough to satisfy the two-time champion.
"I still believe that there's another level of Lance
Armstrong," he said.
The performance was all the more impressive given Ullrich's
strong showing on the 19.87-mile leg. He placed second after
knocking 35 seconds off Spaniard Joseba Beloki's best time.
The win gave Armstrong his second stage victory. He left his
rivals behind in Tuesday's first mountain climb, surging past them
at the foot of L'Alpe d'Huez and powering to the summit.
He later admitted he had used TV coverage to bluff his
competitors, who exhausted themselves in the first two climbs
believing Armstrong was tired and unable to keep pace.
There was no room for poker tactics in Wednesday's grueling
climb.
"(In a time-trial) there are no tactics, it's an event that
anybody can figure out," Armstrong said. "The only slight
consideration is that it's a hard course, so you have to judge
where you use your efforts."
To help judge the climb, Armstrong and his teammates did four
practice runs at Chamrousse before the start of the Tour.
"We spent a lot of time being here and figuring out what to
do," Armstrong saud.
Armstrong had earlier warned that it would be "tough" to
recover from the effort at L'Alpe d'Huez, but showed no sign of
flagging Wednesday.
"I didn't expect to recover and feel as good as I did,"
Armstrong said. "From now on, I will be very careful with my
efforts."
Ullrich, the 1997 champion, was distraught after being beaten by
Armstrong a second day running.
"Lance Armstrong once said that Jan Ullrich is the greatest
talent in cycling. This doesn't seem to be the case," the Team
Telekom rider said. "But I am not giving up despite everything and
I'll try everything. I've never been in such good shape."
After Wednesday's stage, Armstrong rose from fourth to third
place in the overall standings. The two riders ahead of him --
Frenchman Francois Simon in the lead and Kazakstan's Andrei Kivilev
-- are expected to lose ground in the next three stages in the
Pyrenees mountains, whereas Armstrong is tipped to shine.
He leads Ullrich by 3:34, which the German will be hard pressed
to reduce given Armstrong's current form in uphill stages.
Thursday is a rest day, during which riders are transferred by
plane from Grenoble to Perpignan at the foot of the Pyrenees.
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |
|
ALSO SEE
Has Ullrich already lost the Tour?
Tour de France results -- stage 11
High climber: Armstrong wins 10th stage
Tour de France: Day-by-day
|
