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| |  Wednesday, 18 July, 2001, 18:07 GMT 19:07 UK Armstrong shows his class Devil of a time: Armstrong pushes hard during stage 11 Stage 11, mountain time trial from Grenoble to Chamrousse, 32km. Lance Armstrong has fired another warning shot to the rest of the Tour de France field by winning the mountain time trial on Wednesday. His time of one hour seven minutes and 27.02secs over the 32.5km stage was more than a minute quicker than that of his main rival, Jan Ullrich, who finished second. And, although overnight yellow jersey leader, Fran�ois Simon, held on to the overall race lead, he found his margin slashed by the flying American. Seemingly unaffected by his tiring stage win on Alpe d'Huez on Tuesday, Armstrong was out of his saddle for much of the stage and led from the first check-point.
Pedalling at an unbelievable rate up steep climbs, he opened up an early gap on Ullrich and other Tour pretenders Joseba Beloki and Christophe Moreau. "I'm very satisfied - I know the course very well," said Armstrong after winning his second straight mountain time trial. He confessed to a broken night's sleep at altitude among excitable groups of Tour supporters, but hinted that morale in his troubled US Postal Service Team is growing. "We know the yellow jersey is close. We can smell it and that's good," Armstrong said. Ullrich, the 1997 champion, was distraught after being beaten by Armstrong a second day running. "Lance Armstrong once said that Jan Ullrich is the greatest talent in cycling. This doesn't seem to be the case," said the Team Telekom rider, who trails Armstrong by three minutes and 34 seconds in the overall standings.
Ullrich added: "But I am not giving up despite everything and I'll try everything. I've never been in such good shape." Stuart O'Grady, the Australian holder of the green jersey, was unable to keep up with the blistering pace and lost more than 10 minutes to Armstrong on the day. The previously impressive Andrei Kivilev struggled and was only just able to hold on to his second position in the overall classification. All riders enjoy a well-earned rest day on Thursday to give them a chance to repair their aching bodies after two tough Alpine stages. Stage 12, a 166.5km climb from Perpignan to Ax-les-Thermes takes place on Friday. Stage 11, leading times: 1. Lance Armstrong (US), 1hr 07mins 27sec Overall classification: 1. Francois Simon (Fra) 46hr 48mins 36secs | |
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