After finishing Stage 3 of Paris-Nice in the same time as stage winner Vincente Reynes (Illes Balears), Lance Armstrong decided not to partake in the fourth stage from Saint-Peray to Montélimar. Discovery Channel's sports manager Johan Bruyneel said Armstrong woke up the morning before the third stage with a sore throat, and after the stage, he began to show signs of a fever, which was when Bruyneel decided it was time for Lance to call it quits in the 'Race to the Sun', which, up until today, had been non-existent.
"When we returned to the hotel, he began to show signs of a fever and appeared to be getting worse, so we decided he should return to [his home in] Girona immediately," Bruyneel said to ThePaceline.com.
"I had finally adjusted to the jet-lag of the trip, but woke up with a sore throat that seemed to get worse all day," said Armstrong after Stage 3. "I will return to Spain to rest up and be back on the bike in a couple of days."
