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Armstrong shows punch from past Tour wins
Seven-time Tour winner helps Contador on Petit-St-Bernard
Lance Armstrong's attack Tuesday in the Tour de France looked like the ones that brought him seven overall wins. He bridged solo to Astana teammate and race leader, Alberto Contador, on the Col du Petit-St-Bernard to help protect him.
"It felt like I had some punch and some power in that move that I made to go across," USA's Armstrong said.
Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), fifth overall, attacked on the second of two climbs in the 159-kilometre stage to Bourg-St-Maurice. His acceleration distanced Armstrong to form a six-man move with brother and teammate Fränk, Contador, Andreas Klöden (Astana), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream).
Armstrong lost around 35 seconds to the Contador group before launching his attack. He rode across two kilometres solo and re-joined his teammate Contador. His presence made it more difficult for rival Andy Schleck to pressure the yellow jersey. The group topped the climb and finished 31 kilometres later in Bourg-St-Maurice together.
The day was different to Sunday's stage to Verbier, where Armstrong lost 1:35 to the favourites. He said he made changes to his position on the bike yesterday, the Tour's second rest day.
"I certainly felt more conformable on the bike. If I go back and look at the videotape of Verbier I can tell that on the bike I was just like a fish out of water."
Astana faces three more critical days before Contador can claim his second Tour de France title. The race continues tomorrow with a stage to Le Grand-Bornand that covers five climbs in 169.5 kilometres.
"These were 15-mile, high-elevation climbs today and we did two of them. Tomorrow is the real one, it is a heck of a day, the hardest day of the Tour. There is no pretending tomorrow."
Armstrong is second overall by 1:37, nine seconds ahead of Brit Wiggins. Schleck is in fifth at 2:26 behind Contador.
This Tour de France marks Armstrong's first in four years. He retired after winning his seventh consecutive tour in 2005.
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Lance Armstrong
Lance Amstrong retired in 2011. Before that he had one of the most successful but controversial careers in professional cycling. He won 7 Tour de France from 1999 to 2005, after coming back from cancer.
Lance Armstrong retired from the sport in 2005 only to announce a comeback in 2008. He rode for Astana in 2009, finishing third in the Tour de France. The following season he again rode the Tour but failed to challenge for the yellow jersey. He made his last professional outing at the 2011 Tour Down Under.
