Armstrong opens healthy gap

Cycling: Lance Armstrong's luck has not deserted him in this Tour, and yesterday a semblance of his form of old returned as well.

Twice he was the victim of events, including a dramatic incident when a spectator toppled him off his bike on the final climb, but for the first time in this Tour he was able to impose himself and open a gap that may prove decisive.

After winning the stage here, he leads Jan Ullrich by more than a minute, an advantage that is not exactly comfortable but is healthy compared with the 15 seconds that separated them yesterday morning.

Almost as importantly, this Tour ceased to be a menage a trois over the twin Pyrenean giants of the Col du Tourmalet and the climb to the finish: Alexandre Vinokourov is now almost three minutes behind.

The mark of the great Tour men is how they cope with events. Armstrong has already shown in his recovery from cancer that he is beyond the norm in this area. Yesterday, he was tested to the full as he attempted to stretch Ullrich on the lower slopes of this epic climb to a bleak ski station ringed by spiky peaks.

With the l'Alpe d'Huez winner Iban Mayo close behind, and Ullrich sprinting to maintain contact, Armstrong caught his right brake lever in a yellow cotton bag held by a substantial Basque cycling fan, and toppled to the tarmac, taking Mayo with him. Ullrich performed a two-wheeled sidestep around the pair and, as professional cycling ethics dictate, the entire lead group slowed while Armstrong and Mayo remounted.

This is precisely how Armstrong behaved two years ago when Ullrich went into a field on the descent from the Col de Peyresourde, and he pointed that out yesterday.

"What goes around comes around. I'm very grateful to Jan for remembering my gesture of two years ago. What I did then was the correct thing, and what he did today was the correct thing."

It was an accident waiting to happen, given that the bags are handed out daily in their thousands by the bank that sponsors the yellow jersey, and a reminder that the Tour men are uniquely vulnerable in their proximity to spectators.

All the race organiser Jean-Marie Leblanc could do yesterday was protest that they cannot put barriers along the entire route.

Fired up by the adrenalin, Armstrong caught up, waited for a short while, then accelerated away again. Ullrich was unable to hang on, but with Mayo still behind him, Armstrong almost crashed again. This time, his gears - damaged in the accident - misfired, his right foot parted company with his pedal and he landed on his bike in most painful style. It mattered barely a whit.

Ullrich ceded ground, then fought a desperate and futile battle to stay within reach. In the end, with Armstrong 40 seconds up ahead, he lost out to Mayo in the sprint for second.

If Armstrong was spinning the pedals with the speed that has won him the past four Tours, sweat dripping from chin and nose, Ullrich plodded as he did in coming second in 2000 and 2001. But he believed after the finish that he has kept close enough to challenge in Saturday's time-trial.

The German had tried manfully to dispatch Armstrong on the lower slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, but Armstrong kept his head and clawed back the metres. As it is now, the race could go to either of them.

Not that Armstrong is happy with the hand fate has dealt him, from his crash on day one to his near-miss en route to Gap and the dehydration that cost him last Friday's time-trial.

"This has been a Tour of too many problems, too many close calls, too many near-misses," he said. "It's been a very odd, crisis-filled Tour, with problems I have mentioned, and some I haven't talked about."

The latter may include his troubled marriage.

Stage 15 (Bagneres-de-Bigorre - Luz-Ardiden, 159.5km): 1 L Armstrong (USA) 4hrs 29mins 26secs, 2 I Mayo (Spa) at 0mins 40secs, 3 JUllrich (Ger) at 0.40, 4 H Zubeldia (Spa) at 0.40, 5 C Moreau (Fra) at 0.40, 6 I Basso (Ita) at 0.47, 7 THamilton (USA) at 1.10, 8 A Vinokourov (Kaz) at 2.07, 9 J Luis Rubiera (Spa) at 2.45, 10 S Chavanel (Fra) at 2.47, 11 C Sastre (Spa) at 3.12, 12 D Menchov (Rus) at 3.12, 13 R Laiseka (Spa) at 3.12, 14 G Totschnig (Aut) at 3.24, 15 M Beltran (Spa) at 3.24.

Overall Classification: (yellow jersey)1 L Armstrong (USA) 65hrs 36mins 23secs, 2 J Ullrich (Ger) at 1min 7secs, 3 A Vinokourov (Kaz) at 2.45, 4 H Zubeldia (Spa) at 5.16, 5 I Mayo (Spa) at 5.25, 6 I Basso (Ita) at 8.08, 7 T Hamilton (USA) at 9.02, 8 C Moreau (Fra) at 11.09, 9 F Mancebo (Spa) at 16.05, 10 C Sastre (Spa) at 16.12, 11 DMenchov (Rus) at 17.09, 12 G Totschnig (Aut) at 18.52, 13 M Beltran (Spa) at 19.34, 14 R Virenque (Fra) at 22.00, 15 R Laiseka (Spa) at 24.19

Points standings (green jersey): 1. B Cooke (Aus) 156 points 2. R McEwen (Aus) Lotto 148 3. T Hushovd (Nor) 134 4. E Zabel (Ger) 126 5. S O'Grady (Aus) 122 6. J-P Nazon (Fra) 111 7. L Paolini (Ita) 106 8. Ullrich 98 9. Vinokourov 91 10. Armstrong 83

King of the Mountain (polka-dot jersey): standings: 1. Virenque 318 2. Dufaux 177 3. Armstrong 167 4. Mayo 130 5. Zubeldia 125 6. Ullrich 124 7. Moreau 124

Team points: 1. Team CSC 194 hours 34 minutes and two seconds 2. Euskaltel six minutes 58 seconds behind 3. U.S. Postal Service 14:08 4. iBanesto.com 16:43 5. Team Bianchi 59:13