Armstrong leads after mountain climb

Lance Armstrong dismissed all doubts about his chances of winning a seventh Tour de France in succession in the first high mountain stage in the Alps between Grenoble and Courchevel yesterday.

Perfectly launched by his Discovery Channel team in the last climb to the finish, the American again humbled most of the riders who were hoping to challenge him on his final Tour.

In turns, Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloeden, Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov and Italy's Ivan Basso, all seen as the Texan's leading rivals before the start of the 12th stage, were forced to concede defeat as Armstrong again appeared a class above the rest.

He took second place in the day's 181-km ride, just behind Spain's Alejandro Valverde, with Dane Michael Rasmussen, wearing the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey, finishing third.

Overall, the American leads Rasmussen by 38 seconds and Basso by 2:40.

Armstrong said: "It was the first great day for Discovery Channel. They are a superb team to give the right tempo in the climb."

The first moment of truth confirmed the six-times Tour champion's domination but it also revealed new talent in Valverde, his team-mate Francisco Mancebo and Rasmussen.

The three were the only riders to remain with Armstrong until the finish in the ski resort which hosted the ski jumping events at the 1992 Albertville Olympics.

Valverde, seen by many as the most gifted rider of the new generation, won the stage in four hours and 50 minutes, after a last-gasp sprint with Armstrong.

Rasmussen was third, nine seconds behind and Mancebo fourth in the same time after a hard day's riding over two category-one climbs.

Armstrong's team chief Johan Bruyneel said: "We knew that today's stage was very important and the team worked fine.

"Lance managed the finish to perfection and it was difficult to win the stage with Valverde in the group. It was a great operation for Lance."

Ullrich was dropped by the main bunch 10kms from the finish and lost over two minutes on Armstrong on the day, while Vinokourov lost over five minutes.

The mini-crisis suffered by Armstrong's team-mates in the Vosges hills at the weekend had raised questions about their real strength on this Tour.

But it was back to business as usual for the Discovery Channel riders in the Courchevel climb, when six of the Texan's men took the reins at a frantic pace. They tired out their leader's rivals one by one, with yellow jersey holder Jens Voigt being among the first to lose ground.