But for Robero Laiseka, the 14th stage from Tarbes to Luz-Ardiden provided an excuse for celebration after he claimed his team's first victory in the Tour.

The Euskaltel rider attacked at the foot of the final climb and overhauled the leaders before finishing almost a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

"It's a major victory for our team and it's even more special since all the supporters of our team made the effort to come up here."

Laiseka was cheered all the way up the final climb by thousands of flag-waving Basque fans clad in orange.

"This is the best race in the world and we saw the best fans in the world," he said.

"I heard a lot of people shouting 'Go for it' on the way up and that gave me a lot of support, as did my team who worked really hard from the first kilometre."

Like the winner, Lance Armstrong also thanked the efforts of his team-mates after he increased his overall lead to over five minutes.

But the US Postal rider is "happy" to be leaving the mountains behind even though it is the scene of his greatest triumphs in the 2001 Tour.

Prior to the week of racing in the Alps and the Pyrenees, the defending champion was over 30 minutes off the lead.