Cycling Tour de France: Back in May the locals here would have seen a cyclist dressed in black accompanied by a single unmarked car climbing five times up the 21 hairpins leading to this little town.
Lance Armstrong returned yesterday as Superman to take his third Tour de France stage win in four days' racing in front of what looked like the biggest crowd the Tour has drawn to any climb in its 101-year history.
In the first four or five kilometres, where the bulk of the fans were gathered, they were so numerous, waving so many flags, and so reluctant to get out of the way that the riders could not see where they were going even though each was accompanied by a police motorbike.
Yesterday the amateur snappers were concentrated on a single climb, and in places they stood three deep, viewfinders trained on the rider, unaware he was a yard or two away. Armstrong's view was that the stage should not have been held.
"At Plateau de Beille (last Saturday) there was one kilometre where people were standing close; yesterday there were four or five kilometres of people all the time," he said. "I don't know that's a good thing for the Tour de France. I don't think it's safe."
But the American stayed upright on the course and there were no glitches other than a minor contretemps with race officials over the weight of his time-trial bike, judged to be just below the minimum considered safe. His team car, though, has been relegated to last place in the file for today's stage after a run-in with a television motorbike.
A sixth Tour win and a place in the record books should be the Texan's on Sunday, but as usual Armstrong is not tempting fate: "I'm careful about counting to six, although I can, but I'll do it on the final lap on the Champs Elysees. Today was just about getting through the stage and securing the overall lead."
His yellow jersey is secure enough, particularly because the Italian Ivan Basso crumbled. Not a time-triallist of repute, he was caught and passed by Armstrong with 4km to the finish. There could have been no more fitting demonstration of strength and contrast in style: Armstrong spinning the pedals like a hamster on a wheel, Basso straining with every stroke.
The Texan had the advantage of starting behind the Italian so he benefited from constant time checks, and the chance to overtake his young rival was too good to resist.
Basso is now three minutes 48 seconds behind and will lose more time in Saturday's flat time-trial, even if he holds on in today's stage over four vast Alpine passes. He and his CSC team rode to defend second place overall on Tuesday but even that is no longer secure; the Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden are getting stronger by the day.
Yesterday Germans predominated alongside Americans, Danes and Dutch in the throng. While the Dutch opted as ever for raucous disco, outsize orange hats and bottles of Orangeboom, which they occasionally poured over passing race cars, the Germans went for neatly ordered garden chairs and placards greeting "Ulli und Klodi".
Ullrich has no chance of overtaking Armstrong but second place yesterday means he is only four minutes three seconds behind Basso, and his friend Kloden, third yesterday, is only one minute 16 seconds adrift of third place.
Stage 16 details
Stage 16 (Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez ITT, 15.5 km): 1 L Armstrong (USA) US Postal 39mins 41secs, 2 J Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile at 1min 01secs, 3 A Kloden (Ger) T-Mobile at 1:41, 4 J Azevedo (Por) US Postal at 1:45, 5 S Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems at 2:11, 6 G Guerini (Ita) T-Mobile at same time, 7 V Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears - Banesto at 2:15, 8 I Basso (Ita) Team CSC at 2:23. 65. M Scanlon 5:46
Overall standings: 1 L Armstrong (USA) US Postal 67hrs 53mins 24secs, 2 I Basso (Ita) Team CSC at 3mins 48secs, 3 A Kloden (Ger) T-Mobile at 5:03, 4 J Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile at 7:55, 5 J Azevedo (Por) US Postal at 9:19, 6 F M Perez (Spa) Illes Balears - Banesto at 9:20, 7 G Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 11:34, 8 C Sastre (Spa) Team CSC at 13:52. 91. M Scanlon 1h50:24
Team standings: 1. T-Mobile 201:39.17 2. Team CSC 3.44 behind 3. US Postal 6.13 4. Phonak 29.12 5. Illes Balears Santander 41.21 6. Brioches La Boulangere 44.03 7. Quick Step-Davbtamon 47.51 8. Euskaltel 54.22
Points standings (green jersey) 1. R McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 225 points 2. THushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 213 3. E Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile 212 4. S O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis 204 5. D Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 189 6. T Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 128 7. L Brochard (Fra) AG2R 118 8. J-P Nazon (Fra) AG2R 116.
King of the mountains (polkadot jersey)
1. R Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 177 points 2. L Armstrong (US) US Postal 142 3. I Basso (Ita) Team CSC 101 4. A Kloeden (Ger) T-Mobile 96 5. M Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 95 6. J Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile 93 7. C Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 78 8. F Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears 77
Young rider (white jersey): 1. T Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 68:09.28 2. V Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears 3.33 behind 3. S Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 4.24 4. M Scarponi (Ita) D Vacanze 11.01 5. S Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 11.28 6. I Camano (Spa) Euskaltel 11.36 7. J Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 12.55 14. M Scanlon 1h43:20
Scanlon still holding his own
Mark Scanlon's concerns prior the Alpe d'Huez time-trial proved utterly unfounded, the 23-year-old riding strongly in the 15.5-kilometre individual test to finish 65th of the 157 riders.
Scanlon climbed the mountain in a time just five minutes and 46 seconds slower than that of dominant five-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, the Sligoman's decent placing showing that he is coming out of his first Tour de France in good condition. He is now lies in 91st place overall.
Today's race to le Grand Bornand is the last major mountain stage, with tomorrow's leg an undulating - but somewhat easier - 166-km leg through the Jura region. After that the riders have just Saturday's 55-kilometre time-trial and then face the final day's action from Montereau to Paris.
