Cycling Tour de France: Tyler Hamilton's victory here was different in many ways though above all, in winning with a broken collarbone, he arguably pushed the pain barrier further than any Tour cyclist before him.
The American also publicly summoned his team car at the finish to thank his manager, the 1996 winner Bjarne Riis. He was hugged by Lance Armstrong, his former team leader. Finally, he shook the local dignitaries' hands on the finish podium with his left hand. His damaged right arm stayed tucked in.
Hamilton was not the only one keeping his hand close to his chest yesterday.
The 30-mile time-trial from Pornic to Nantes on Saturday will decide this Tour, and it was clearly already weighing heavy on the mind of both Armstrong and Jan Ullrich. They barely took their eyes off each other for a moment up hill or down dale yesterday, and that will go on until they reach tomorrow's finish on the plains of Poitou.
Hamilton can now look at Saturday's contre la montre in a new light as well. The CSC leader came to this Tour aiming for a high overall finish, and it is now within his reach thanks to this audacious long-distance attack. With his lead over four minutes as he left the Pyrenees and began the mainly downhill final 50 miles, he looked poised to challenge Alexandre Vinokourov for third place overall.
A strong late chase from Vino's pink-clad Telekom team scotched that, but even so, his total gain of nearly three minutes on the day means that on Saturday he may well overtake the Basque Iban Mayo for fifth.
All of this was far from Hamilton's thoughts early on, however, as the race sped out of Pau and into the green, winding hills of the Basque country.
Early on, he found himself at the back as the peloton stretched and fractured, and he had to call five of his CSC team-mates back to haul him up to the leaders.
Another of his domestiques, Niki Sorensen, rode a tactical blinder, infiltrating the day's early escape, so that he was perfectly positioned to drag Hamilton clear of the field when he made his completely unexpected move on the Col de Soudet.
The Basques, as expected, were out in force, but their new hero, Mayo, was held up by a puncture at the foot of the day's second, and toughest, climb, the Col de Bagarguy.
The locals turned the top of the mountain into a sea of red, white and green ikurrina flags, waved so densely that Hamilton could barely see the road, and forcing him to dodge between them - no easy task for a one-armed man riding up a one-in-seven slope.
Guardian Service
Stage 16 (Pau to Bayonne, 197.5km): 1 T Hamilton (USA) Team CSC 4hrs 59mins 41secs, 2 E Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom at 1min 55secs, 3 Y Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour, 4 L Paolini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon, 5 G Glomser (Aut) Saeco, 6 B De Groot (Ned) Rabobank, 7 M Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner, 8 S Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com, 9 F Guidi (Ita) Team Bianchi, 10 S O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole, 11 C Mengin (Fra) FDJeux.com, 12 A Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance, 13 S Commesso (Ita) Saeco, 14 N Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance, 15 S Baguet (Bel) Lotto Domo, 16 F Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere, 17 J Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi, 18 C Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo, 19 JE Gutierrez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca, 20 M Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC all at same time. General classification: 1 L Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 70hrs 37mins 59secs, 2 Ullrich at 1min 07secs, 3 A Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom at 2.45, 4 H Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 5.16, 5 I Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 5.25, 6 Hamilton at 6.35, 7 I Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo at 8.08, 8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole at 11.12, 9 F Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com at 16.05, 10 C Sastre (Spa) Team CSC at 16.12 .
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