Cycling Tour de FranceAfter winning his third Alpine stage in a row, Lance Armstrong was met yesterday on the podium by Bernard Hinault, a fellow five-times winner legendary for his combative style. "Parfait," grunted "the Badger", adding: "Pas de cadeaux." The Texan's translation was, "no gifts", and there were none for his rivals here yesterday.
There was more than a little of Hinault in Armstrong's hunger as he chased down Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden in the final few kilometres. Stage victory for either German would have mattered not a jot overall, yet Armstrong was letting nothing escape him or US Postal Service team-mate Floyd Landis. This was Eddy Merckx's way, and on occasion Hinault's.
Armstrong achieved a feat that evaded both the insatiable "Cannibal" (Merckx) and the "Badger", however, taking three mountain stage wins in a row following his victories at Villard de Lans on Tuesday and L'Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday.
As at Villard de Lans, the finish was "royal", that is fought out between the top men overall - Armstrong, Ivan Basso, Kloden and Ullrich - plus Landis. In seigneurial style, Armstrong attempted to let Landis win, pushing him gently ahead over the top of the final climb, the Col du Croix Fry, which was aptly named as the roadside fans were sizzling in 30-degree heat.
His master instructed Landis to "run like he had stolen something" but Ullrich gave chase, knowing he had a final chance to gain time on Basso and push for a place in the first three. Armstrong pursued the German, and for a few minutes they took the hairpins flat out, leaning their bikes at terrifying angles, pushing tyre adhesion to the limit.
The trio linked up at the foot of the descent, and Ullrich waved his arms at Armstrong in dismay - "Jan wanted us to work, because we had two guys there, but Basso was dropped, so to me it was in his interests to do the work," explained the Texan.
Basso and Kloden linked up and in the final kilometre Landis stole away, chased down by Ullrich. As Ullrich closed on Landis, with Armstrong and Basso close on his heels, the quartet eased and Kloden launched the classic counter-attack from behind, gaining 20 metres and what looked like an assured victory until Armstrong sped past him in the final 150 metres.
It was pure cut and thrust compared to the more common, yet purely mechanical spectacle of Armstrong winning one of the mountain-top finishes he has made his own.
A hat-trick is a rare feat even for a sprinter - Mario Cipollini managed it in 1999 - but for an overall contender it is almost unheard of. This is largely because in the mountains the conventional strategy for a rider aiming for the ultimate triumph is to let some lesser lights, out of the race for the yellow jersey, fight out the stage while marking his closest rivals.
Australia's Robbie McEwen survived the last mountain stage to remain favourite to win the points competition and take the green jersey. McEwen finished 109th, more than 35 minutes behind Armstrong, but none of his rivals scored points.
