He Is Peaking at Right Time

SAINT-LARY SOULAN, France — He would have moved mountains for this particular article of clothing, but the rules of the race dictate that Lance Armstrong go over six peaks instead of pushing them aside.

Armstrong, who zipped the Tour de France overall leader’s yellow jersey over his wiry frame Saturday, can’t hang it in his closet just yet. But he has it on layaway with only a few more payments to go.

In an almost numbing repetition of two previous mountain stages, Armstrong surged past rival Jan Ullrich and French veteran Laurent Jalabert on the way up to the mile-high finish of a rugged 120.47-mile course in the Pyrenees to take the 13th stage of the three-week marathon.

The victory ended a game of catch-up in which Armstrong made up a deficit that six days before had been as wide as 35 minutes 19 seconds. He is now 3:54 ahead of Kazakhstani rider Andrei Kivilov and 5:13 in front of Ullrich, who again had no answer for Armstrong’s finishing kick.

“We keep trying to drop Armstrong, but he seems to be stronger than last year,” said Ullrich, 1997 Tour winner and leader of the Deutsch Telekom team. “I keep trying, my team keeps trying, but nothing works.”

Armstrong and Ullrich rode in the same pack for most of the stage. Ullrich narrowly avoided a serious crash after he took a turn too tightly near the 96-mile point, but he managed to steer into a field and got back on the road almost immediately.

In a show of sportsmanship, Armstrong slowed until he was sure Ullrich was not injured and allowed Ullrich and his teammate Kevin Livingston to catch him before resuming racing in earnest.

This marks the latest in the race that Armstrong, who is seeking his third consecutive Tour victory, has gone into the lead. Much of the gap he had to erase was the result of a freakish breakaway Sunday by riders not considered to be threats for the overall victory, but the process was still more arduous than he or his U.S. Postal Service team had expected.

Saturday, he also benefited from the efforts of teammates Roberto Heras and Jose Luis Rubiera, who stayed with Armstrong almost until the end to help him preserve a last crucial bit of strength in his legs.

“I think we were all feeling confident that at some point we were going to get the lead and we didn’t need to panic,” Armstrong said. “We felt we could wait [to attack] until the last climb each of the three days. The last two years have taught us we don’t have to ride so hard at the front all the time. We can be more conservative.”

Jalabert, who has excelled after recovering from a back injury sustained in a household accident in February, took off shortly after the starting line in Foix. He held the lead for more than 100 miles in a bid for a third stage victory.

“I thought I was going to have a quiet day,” he said. “But I felt good, and once it started, I didn’t ask myself a lot of questions. It could have paid off. Every time I’ve won something important, I’ve taken risks.”

Jalabert said Armstrong made the final ascent look “easy . . . beautiful. I’m honored to be the last one he passed. His goal was not to beat me. That’s racing.”

Armstrong’s competitiveness and climbing ability were hardly in question leading up to Saturday. But the severe challenge posed by the successive climbs called for something intangible, and Armstrong’s continued devotion to the memory of a fallen colleague provided the extra fuel he needed.

Saturday’s stage passed by the stone monument commemorating Armstrong’s former Motorola teammate Fabio Casartelli on the descent from the Col du Portet d’Aspet, where the Italian cyclist died in a crash during the 1995 Tour.

As he did three stages after Casartelli’s death in 1995, Armstrong pointed toward the sky as he crossed the finish line.

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Race at a Glance

A look at Saturday’s 13th stage:

* Stage: A grueling 120.47-mile stretch through the Pyrenees featuring six mountain passes between Foix and the Pla d’Adet ski station.

* Winner: Two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong, in 5 hours 44 minutes 22 seconds. He took the overall leader’s yellow jersey for the first time in this Tour.

* How others fared: Germany’s Jan Ullrich was second, one minute behind Armstrong. Joseba Beloki of Spain was third, 1:46 off the pace.

* Quote of the day: “Come look at my face in January when I’m trail running on my property in Austin, Texas, and I’m hurting like a dog. It’s an ugly face. I’d rather have the face then and feel good here. It’s called sacrifice.” -- Armstrong, on the notion that he shows no effort when racing.

* Next stage: An 87.87-mile mountainous stage between Tarbes and Luz-Ardiden in the Pyrenees. It is the last mountain stage of the Tour.