Armstrong Regains Yellow Jersey But Shows He is Human

The German fan who impersonates the devil was there as always, leaping about and brandishing his trident, but even he must have found the fires of hell a little on the warm side yesterday. Lance Armstrong, normally a byword for cold calculation in the midst of an inferno, certainly did.

In his attempt to join the group of four men who have won the Tour de France five times, the Texan is doing it the hard way. Armstrong is back in the yellow jersey this morning, following his third place in yesterday's gruelling and bitterly contested stage from Sallanches to l'Alpe d'Huez, but there was no note of triumph in his voice afterwards. Instead he spoke of the problems he had faced, not just from his rivals but from his own team, whose tactics went awry at a vital moment.

Yesterday the only thing climbing faster than the riders was the mercury. While passing through the claustrophobic tunnel of humanity shouting and gesticulating along the eight-mile slog up l'Alpe d'Huez, the riders of the Tour de France endured temperatures rising close to 100F. And Armstrong, sometimes held to be a superman, was not impervious as Iban Mayo, a Basque rider with the Euskaltel team, raced away to win the stage, followed by Alexander Vinokourov of Telekom.

This Tour is definitely no lap of honour. Armstrong knew something was not right as he pedalled up the final kilometres of the giant Col du Galibier, the penultimate climb of yesterday's 137-mile stage. "I didn't have the greatest legs today," he said. "At that point it was my decision to ride a conservative race. You need experience to know that you don't have to put on a show. I decided to cover my losses."

Ever since his failure to win the prologue time-trial, after failing to reconnoitre the course and suffering a slight stomach problem, Armstrong has been closely monitored for signs of weakness. His involvement in the big crash on the second day was an inconvenience, and a major effort by his colleagues in Wednesday's team time-trial was required to push him up to second in the general classification.

Yesterday he was frank about his performance so far. "I don't think I'm perhaps as strong as in the other years," he said. "I had some issues at the start of the race, and now I'm a little better. But if you'd asked me a month ago if I'd be suffering like that on the Alpe d'Huez, I'd have said, 'No way'."

Whatever Armstrong's feelings as the leaders came over the summit of the Galibier, 4 hours into the stage and with 40 miles to go, his blue-clad US Postal team-mates were putting on the expected show. Half a dozen of them were surrounding their leader at the head of a group also including the overnight holder of the yellow jersey, Richard Virenque, and two of Armstrong's most dangerous rivals, Jan Ullrich and Joseba Beloki.

On the long descent a break by Mikel Astarloza and Didier Rous was allowed to compile a lead of more than two minutes. Behind them the bunch motored happily along, with Postal in control. But just before the Chambon dam, 10 miles before the arrival at the foot of l'Alpe d'Huez, Armstrong was momentarily unsettled when his team-mate Roberto Heras fell beside him. The group slowed to allow Armstrong to gather himself and Heras to remount but it was not a good omen.

As they swept off the main route nationale into the road that leads up to the village of Huez, the drama began. It was here, two years ago, that Arm strong bluffed Ullrich, pretending to be suffering before switching on the power. Now, without warning, the blue train took off, Manuel Beltran jumping into the lead with Armstrong on his wheel and two other lieutenants, Chechu Rubiera and Heras, poised to assist.

For a few seconds the destiny of the whole three-week, 2,140-mile Tour seemed to rest on this one explosive and seemingly devastating mass attack. As Rubiera and Heras followed Beltran into the pacemaker's position, great names and reputations were being left in the dust. First Virenque cracked, then Ullrich. Only Mayo, Vinokourov and the amazing Tyler Hamilton remained in their slipstream. Beloki was barely hanging on.

But the sight of Beloki not only catching them but overtaking barely two miles into the climb gave a clue to what had been happening. When Mayo and Vinokourov flew past, the horrible truth became apparent. Beltran, a 32-year-old Spaniard who was added to the team in mid-May with the intention of giving Armstrong better support in the mountains, had taken his team- mates beyond their limits.

"There's no doubt about that," a pensive Armstrong said. "He's new to the team and I guess the system isn't clear enough. A fast tempo is a good thing, but this was supersonic. And that's not good."

Now, as Armstrong accelerated across the giant stars and stripes painted on the road at the entrance to the village, he was left to scrap it out for third place, to accept the yellow jersey with a slightly rueful smile and to face the inevitable inquisition about his failure to dominate the day. He added, although it did not need to be said, that this time there had been no bluffing.