Tour de France: The theme park that hosted yesterday's stage finish currently consists of little more than a ski slope running into a vast hole in the ground and after yesterday's time trial here, suddenly Lance Armstrong is staring into the void.
It may well be that for all its complete lack of atmosphere, this bizarre place gains the same notoriety in the history of the Tour as the Les Arcs ski resort did when Miguel Indurain's domination came to a sudden end in 1996. The Texan has lost only two time-trial stages in his four consecutive Tour wins, and each of those defeats was by a handful of seconds.
Yesterday, for the first time in the three times they have met in the Tour, Jan Ullrich gained the upper hand on him in a solo contre la montre, by a massive margin: 95 seconds.
For all that, Armstrong retained the maillot jaune. But this was a defeat of epic proportions for the man who has dominated the last four Tours almost as he pleased, and it leaves the Tour beautifully poised for four days of climbing in the Pyrenees.
Ullrich is now just 34 seconds behind in second place. The Russian Alexandre Vinokourov cut his losses on Armstrong - another clear sign that the master is not what he was - and remains within a minute. It is a position of unprecedented precariousness with a week's racing to go, including another time trial where Ullrich may well gain time, and Armstrong recognised that immediately after the stage.
"I don't have much time (in hand), and I'll have to attack in the Pyrenees," he said. Half-an-hour later, however, in what smacked of a need to convince himself and the opposition, he had changed his mind. "I don't know I have to take more time back.
"Jan had a super day, but besides today, he hasn't beaten me in a time trial in the Tour. I can still be confident. It's not my responsibility to attack. If I start (the time trial) in Nantes (next Saturday) with 34 seconds, I wouldn't lose sleep." Perhaps not, but his rest might be a little disturbed.
This was billed by Armstrong as the most important stage of the five Tours he has ridden to win, but it turned into the most painful. He finished with a fine white scum on his lips, and admitted running out of water in heat pushing 40 degrees (104F).
"I had an incredible crisis. I felt like I was going backwards. It's the most thirsty I've been in a time trial. I was thirsty from the beginning. Perhaps I didn't drink enough."
It would perhaps have been unreasonable to have expected the centenary Tour to avoid theme parks, as they are a French obsession, which the Tour has indulged by visiting the bizarre Futuroscope and the tasteless Disneyland Europe. Cap Decouverte is a vast, restored open-cast coalmine, complete with rusting, redundant earthmovers, and its only connection with the two-wheeled world is that in French cycling slang the term "au charbon", literally to "put on coal", means to go flat out.
Ullrich did just that, in a manner which has not been seen on the Tour since his arrival in 1996 and his victory in 1997. He has twice won the world time-trial championship since then, but otherwise he has always looked to be a man trying to live up to the great future everyone had predicted for him, and generally failing. It is five years since his last stage victory, and it is 24 years since the legendary jersey he has worn for the last six weeks, Bianchi, last won a stage.
The climbers, as might be expected, had a torrid time and Iban Mayo is now four minutes and 29 seconds behind Armstrong, but together with his fellow Basque Haimar Zubeldia, he will surely attack in front of his home crowd today. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Guardian Service
GAILLAC TO CAP DECOUVERTE, 47km: 1 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi 58mins 32.92secs, 2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor at 1min 35.13secs, 3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom at 2:05.94, 4 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 2:39.39, 5 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC at 2:42.52, 6 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner at 3:25.27, 7 David Millar (Gbr) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone at 3:54.25, 8 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance at 4:00.71, 9 David Plaza (Spa) Team Bianchi at 4:36.87, 10 Santiago Botero (Col) Team Telekom at 4:59.16, 11 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com at 4:59.40, 12 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 5:02.71, 13 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 5:05.76, 14 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com at 5:14.49, 15 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon at 5:24.22, 16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole at 5:26.29, 17 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski at 5:31.50, 18 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC at 5:51.42, 19 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone at 5:58.27, 20 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo at 5:59.26
OVERALL: 1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 50hrs 16mins 45secs, 2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi at 0.34secs, 3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom at 0.51, 4 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC at 2mins 59secs, 5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 4.29, 6 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 4.29, 7 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com at 5.01, 8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo at 6.49, 9 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com at 7.24, 10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole at 7.55,
POINTS (green jersey): 1. Baden Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com 156 points 2. Robbie McEwen (Australia) Lotto 148 3. Erik Zabel (Germany) Team Telekom 126 4. Stuart O'Grady (Australia) Credit Agricole 122 5. Thor Hushovd (Norway) Credit Agricole 120 6. Jean-Patrick Nazon (France) Jean Delatour 111 7. Luca Paolini (Italy) Quick Step 106 8. Oscar Freire (Spain) Rabobank 83 9. Damien Nazon (France) Brioches 82 10. Roman Vainstains (Latvia) Caldirola 81
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (polka-dot jersey) standings: 1. Richard Virenque (France) Quick Step 135 2. Jorg Jaksche (Germany) ONCE 75 3. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 74 4. Ivan Parra (Colombia) Kelme 71 5. Aitor Garmendia (Spain) Team Bianchi 62
TEAM: 1. Team CSC 148:14:09 2. iBanesto.com 2 minutes 01 seconds behind 3. Euskatel 11:18 4. US Postal Service 14:29 5. Cofidis 23:00
