Bluffy the Armstrong slayer at Tour? No, he’s third despite uncharacteristic time-trial

Armstrong to third after Tour time trial

ANNECY, France — Lance Armstrong finds himself in unfamiliar territory at this Tour de France — fighting just to remain among the top three riders.

Accustomed to dominating his way to victory, the seven-time Tour winner had to settle for a 16th-place finish in Thursday’s time trial and a tenuous grip on third place.

The 37-year-old Texan battled fatigue in the 18th stage, a 25.2-mile race against the clock around bucolic Lake Annecy that Alberto Contador won in 48 minutes, 31 seconds to close in on the overall victory.

Armstrong was 1:30 behind, but he entered the day in fourth and easily overcame a 30-second deficit to Frank Schleck. The Saxo Bank rider finished 2:34 behind Contador to slip from third to sixth overall, but is only 34 seconds behind Armstrong.

After Thursday’s stage, Armstrong said he had “mixed emotions. Sixteenth in a time trial is not a good result, but my ambition is to get on the podium, so I have to be happy with that.”

During his reign as Tour champion, Armstrong never finished lower than third in a time trial, except once, when he placed seventh in one in 2003. This year, in the Stage 1 time trial in Monaco, he was 10th.

Armstrong is admittedly not at his best this year, and is already holding out hope for a better performance in 2010. He announced on Thursday that he is forming a new team that will be sponsored by Ft. Worth, Texas-based electronics vendor Radio Shack. His current team, Astana, has had financial woes, and he’s had testy ties with its Kazakh owners.

The Texan’s adequate ride Thursday kept his hopes alive for a podium spot, though he will have to hold off Schleck, a top climber who is sure to challenge the American on Saturday during the uphill finish of the Tour’s next to last stage.

Schleck and his younger brother Andy had bumped Armstrong from second place to fourth a day earlier in the last punishing Alpine stage, proving they’ll be a force to reckon with in Stage 20.

“I suffered,” Armstrong said of the time trial. “I probably started too hard and maybe I was just empty from yesterday and those cramps I suffered at the end of the (17th) stage.”

Andy Schleck retained second place by finishing 21st — 1:45 behind Contador and only 15 seconds slower that Armstrong, who trails by 1:14 in the race for second overall.

Contador, the 2007 Tour champion, is looking more like the Armstrong of yesteryear as he proved he can seemingly dominate at will in both time trials and in the mountains.

In a sport long marred by doping, some suggest Contador’s performance looks too good to be true.

In an article in French daily Le Monde published Thursday, three-time Tour winner Greg Lemond questioned the speed that Contador mustered in his Stage 15 victory up to the Verbier ski station.

Asked twice to respond to those comments during a news conference after Thursday’s stage, the 26-year-old Contador refused, saying only: “Next question.”

Contador won the Tour in 2007 after Michael Rasmussen was kicked out on doping suspicions with just four days to go, when the Dane was in the yellow jersey. Contador wasn’t allowed to defend his title in 2008 after Astana was banned for doping violations before he joined.

Pat McQuaid, the head of the International Cycling Union, said results are in on “dozens” of doping tests at the Tour this year, and none has come back positive. Contador, like many of the top riders in the race, has been tested numerous times, he said.

Contador beat Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland by 3 seconds in the stage in and around Annecy. Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia was third, 15 seconds back.

“I went all out,” Contador said.

While the stage was mostly flat, riders had to contend with the midlevel Bluffy pass climb, which snaked upward for 2.3 miles.

The Spaniard’s dominance was evident early. By the first intermediate time check, just past the 11-mile mark, he was already 18 seconds ahead of the closest challenger: Bradley Wiggins of Britain, the three-time Olympic pursuit champion.

At the top of Bluffy, Contador had extended his lead to 30 seconds over Wiggins before losing pace on the downhill and in the final flats to the finish.

Overall, Contador leads Andy Schleck by 4:11, Armstrong trails 5:25 back, while Wiggins is fourth, 5:36 behind. Germany’s Andreas Kloeden, who also rides for Astana, sits fifth, 5:38 back. Frank Schleck is sixth, 5:59 behind.

Armstrong was relatively strong at the start of the stage, only 29 seconds slower than Contador through the second intermediate time check at 15.5 miles. His main time deficit came on Bluffy ascent. By the top, he was 1:12 behind Contador.

“I felt good at the beginning, I felt smooth, but there was a tail wind, so maybe everyone felt good,” Armstrong said. “I just wasn’t that strong on the climb.”

Riders get a relatively easy ride Friday with a 110.6-mile course from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas.

The biggest remaining challenge is an uphill finish at Mont Ventoux on Saturday — which Armstrong calls the toughest ascent in France — a day before the race ends on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The threat for Armstrong is again likely to be the Schleck brothers, who have either matched or bettered the American on the climbs this year.

“I want to protect my position with Andy climbing so well,” Armstrong said, “(I) just gotta watch for the moves and don’t let him get away.”