Armstrong distributes more of his largesse

Tour de France: It was said of "The Cannibal", Eddy Merckx, that he would sprint whenever a chequered flag was waved, no matter how small the prize.

Lance Armstrong has never shown Merckx's penchant for competing through an entire season, but in the last two Tours he has shown an appetite of Merckxesque scale.

Last year Armstrong took five stages on his own plus the team time-trial, as well as topping the overall standings. But this year, like a feudal lord scattering largesse, he has started letting his loyal servitors have their share.

Yesterday his Discovery Channel team took their second stage win in three, with their Italian Paolo Savoldelli outsprinting the Norwegian Kurt-Asle Arvesen in the final metres.

With George Hincapie's win on Sunday at Pla d'Adet and their victory in the team time-trial, Discovery have now taken three stages.

The presence of Savoldelli 22 minutes ahead of the field in the day's escape of 17 riders enabled them to take over the lead in the team rankings, which is calculated by adding up the times of each squad's best three riders, ahead of Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile.

Discovery also head the best young riders list through their Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych, who is 12th overall, and that gave rise to the most surprising sight of yesterday's stage.

After Ullrich had sprinted up the final hill above the town with the rest of the top six overall clinging to his back wheel, it was Armstrong who made the pace in a small group which escaped the field.

The Texan led the 10-man group up the finish straight as if they were about to sprint for first place, not 18th. But the placing was irrelevant.

What mattered, apparently, was that Popovych was with him and the rider lying second to the youngster in the under-25 prize, the Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin, was in the next group and here was a chance for Armstrong to strengthen his team-mate's hold on the standings.

There was more than a little of Bernard Hinault about Armstrong yesterday as well, on the day he equalled the great Frenchman's tally of 77 days spent in the yellow jersey.

In his final Tour in 1986, Hinault seemed to be racing for the sheer competitive hell of it and yesterday Armstrong took particular delight in showing Ullrich his strength.

The German's team had set a ferocious pace to the foot of the final climb to launch an attack from their leader, who wanted to gain some time on the rider currently lying third, Mickael Rasmussen. It was spectacular, but fruitless.

T-Mobile wear pink and black and the latter must have summed up their mood yesterday. They lost last year's runner-up Andreas Klöden, who started the stage with his wrist in plaster after a crash on Tuesday but climbed in a team car after 10 miles. The Kazakh Alexandr Vinokourov also announced yesterday that he intends to leave T-Mobile at the end of the season to become a team leader.

To add to the German team's chagrin, yesterday's stage winner spent two completely blank years in their employ in 2003 and 2004. This was due primarily to a horrendous accident in which he collided with a motorbike travelling at 60mph. He also spent 2004 recovering from a virus, and left T-Mobile partly because he felt their jersey brought him bad luck.

Savoldelli's links with Armstrong go further back, however. The Italian is a former client of Armstrong's notorious former trainer Michele Ferrari, convicted in the autumn of drugs charges not relating to the Texan, who recommended him to Armstrong in 2002 when the Texan's team were unable to afford him.

Delicate and accident-prone Savoldelli may be, but he is also highly talented and has won the Giro d'Italia twice. Yesterday he pounced immediately when the Frenchman Sébastien Hinault (no relation to Bernard) attacked on the final hill and overhauled Arvesen relentlessly in the final metres.

At over 150 miles, yesterday was the longest stage, partly because of a final loop to show off Revel's pride and joy, the Lac de Saint-Ferréol. One French rider commented rather bitterly: "The lake was beautiful, but aren't we tired enough already?"

The field split to bits as T-Mobile made the pace at the end, and the same can be expected today on a shorter and hillier stage in the Massif Central. - Guardian Service

Stage17 details

Pau - Revel, 239.5 km

1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 5hrs 41mins 19secs, 2 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC at same time, 3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2r-Prevoyance at 0.08secs, 4 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole at 0.11, 5 Andrei Grivko (Ukr) Domina Vacanze at 0.24, 6 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team at 0.51, 7 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick.Step at same time, 8 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita at 0.53, 9 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance at 3mins 14secs, 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Wurth a 4.10.

General Classification: 1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 72hrs 55mins 50secs, 2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC at 2mins 46secs, 3 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank at 3.09, 4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team at 5.58, 5 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne at 6.31, 6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner at 7.35, 7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team at 9.38, 8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto at 9.49, 9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems at 9.53, 10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole at 12.07.

POINTS: 1 Thor Hushovd (Norway/Credit Agricole) 164pts; 2 Stuart O'Grady (Australia/Cofidis) 150; 3 Robbie McEwen (Australia/Davitamon - Lotto) 142; 4 Allan Davis (Australia/Liberty Seguros) 101; 5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan/ T-Mobile) 97.

MOUNTAINS: 1 Michael Rasmussen (Denmark/Rabobank) 185pts; 2 Oscar Pereiro (Spain/Phonak) 135; 3 Lance Armstrong (US/Discovery Channel) 92; 4 Michael Boogerd (Netherlands/Rabobank) 90; 5 Christophe Moreau (France/Credit Agricole) 89.