In the last half-century, only 12 Frenchmen have taken Bastille Day stages and yesterday seven who figured in a 13-rider breakaway group were outridden by a Spaniard, Vicente Garcia-Acosta of Miguel Indurain's old team Banesto.

Known as "The Animal", he is the squad's main workhorse on the flat, but he is no dark horse, having finished third already last Saturday at Villeneuve-sur-Lot, and coming close to a stage win in 1998. He rode the perfect race, riding away from the leaders with Laurent Jalabert's younger brother Nicolas and Pascal Herve.

National pride and the happy coincidence that Jalabert senior won the Fete Nationale stage in 1995 were not enough to keep them with the big Spaniard, who, seven miles from the finish, jumped away with almost contemptuous ease. This has been a wind-blown Tour and, after Thursday's grim slog into the gale on Mont Ventoux, the mistral blew the riders across Provence at speeds which would not disgrace a car. This is not as pleasant as it sounds, but a constant strain on the riders' nerves as they fight to maintain position and avoid traffic islands.

Today in the Alps the wind will be blowing on the riders at over 30 m.p.h. and the marathon 156 miles may last even longer than the expected eight or nine hours. If anything, Sunday is more fearsome, a relatively brief 116 miles with three mighty ascents: the highest point of the Tour, the Col du Galibier, stands at 8,000 feet - and was blocked by snow two days ago - and there are two more mountains over 6,000 feet high, the Col de la Madeleine and the finish to the ski station at Courchevel.

On paper, Jan Ullrich still has a chance of beating Lance Armstrong, who was untroubled yesterday. These roads are where he has to do it, but Ullrich's manager at Deutsche Telekom, Rudy Pevenage, is a man who clearly knows he can no longer shape events.

"We will wait and see and hope," he said. "What else can you do, when Armstrong is so much stronger?"