Cycling Tour de France StageSixThe consensus is that there is only one way to beat Lance Armstrong this year, and that is to carry the fight to him. Waiting for the Texan to show signs of weakness has proved a dismal failure, as he has had only three or four bad days in six Tours.
The only solution, it seems, is to harass the defending champion unmercifully, worry him and his team, and look for any opportunity to claw back a few seconds.
Only one rider has attempted this in Armstrong's six winning Tours: the little Kazakh Alexandr Vinokourov, who took third in 2003. Yesterday, as the race slid and splashed into this sodden city, "Vino" again decided to take the initiative.
He sped away on dangerous, oil-soaked corners and stayed upright to take second place behind the surprise Italian winner Lorenzo Bernucci, clawing back 19 seconds on Armstrong including a time bonus, and moving up to third overall.
It was never going to be enough to threaten the American's overall lead but it is a psychological blow, a sign that there is life in the competition, and it indicated - after Vino's fine ride in the opening time-trial stage last Saturday - that he is in form at least as good as in 2003 and may be set to take over leadership of the T-Mobile team from Jan Ullrich.
Yesterday's stage looked flat but, according to the largest man in the race, Magnus Backstedt, this was a fallacy. "French flat, that's what we call it," said the Swede. The term is used by Tourmen to describe roads which look innocuous on the profiles issued by the race organisers but are in fact rolling, going continually up and down in a way which saps leg strength.
Yesterday, to make matters worse, it was raining in Lorraine and the peloton splodged glumly along in heavy showers through cornfields which hissed in the blustery breeze. The wind at least was in their favour, and it has now been blowing on the riders' logo-bedecked backsides since Monday, when the race route made a left turn somewhere in Anjou and began heading east.
A pattern has emerged in the flat stages which comprise the opening week of this Tour, whereby the peloton release a handful of also-rans who make the running and are duly swept up in the final kilometres in time for a bunch sprint. Yesterday, however, the "French flat" road, the rather English weather and the determination of the local rider Christophe Mengin between them ruined the script.
Mengin infiltrated the day's escape of five and then left them behind on the final climb before the 60mph descent to the valley of the river Meurthe. On the sodden roads of the city he clung on to a few seconds' lead. On the final corner, however, with less than a kilometre to the line, Mengin lost control of his front wheel and pirouetted across the road to land stunned against the crowd barriers. Vinokourov was breathing down his neck and had to brake hard, almost stopping, and let Bernucci through for his first professional stage win.
A few seconds later the front of the chasing bunch hit the bend, one man touched his brakes and the first 20 went sprawling to join Mengin at the bottom of the barriers. Robbie McEwen and Tom Boonen were among the fallers and got up together to ride gently into the finish, comparing cuts and bruises.
Today's stage finishes in Germany at the town of Karlsruhe. Massive crowds are expected and the bulk of them will be decked out in T-Mobile's pink colours.
There will be a minute's silence for the victims of the London bombings before today's start. Guardian Service
Leading placings (Troyes-Nancy 199km): 1 L Bernucci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4hrs 12mins 52secs, 2 A Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team, 3 R Forster (Ger) Gerolsteiner at 0.07secs, 4 A Furlan (Ita) Domina Vacanze, 5 T Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole, 6 K Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo, 7 G Bortolami (Ita) Lampre-Caffita, 8 E Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi, 9 G Glomser (Aut) Lampre-Caffita, 10 K-A Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC.
Overall: 1 L Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 17hrs 58mins 11secs, 2 G Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel at 0.55secs, 3 A Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team at 1min 02secs, 4 J Voigt (Ger) Team CSC at 1.04, 5 B Julich (USA) Team CSC at 1.07, 6 J L Rubiera (Spa) Discovery Channel at 1.14, 7 Y Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel at 1.16, 8 B Noval (Spa) Discovery Channel at 1.26, 9 I Basso (Ita) Team CSC, 10 K-A Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC both at 1.32.
Points: 1. T Boonen (Belgium/Quick-Step) 106 2. T Hushovd (Norway/Credit Agricole) 99 3. S O'Grady (Australia/Cofidis) 76. Mountains: 1. K Kroon (Netherlands/Rabobank) 7 2. S Auge (France/Cofidis) 7 3. E Dekker (Netherlands/Rabobank) 6. Teams: 1. Team CSC 51:35:22, 2. Discovery Channel +2 secs, 3. T-Mobile +2:17.
