Italy's Gilberto Simoni made up for a disappointing Tour de France by winning the 14th stage today as Lance Armstrong clung on to the race lead.
Giro champion Simoni, dropped by four-times champion Armstrong and other Tour contenders in the Alps, won this year's most gruelling stage, over 191.5 km, with six hard climbs, including four first category passes.
Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, third overall at the start, attacked in the last hill, the Peyresourde pass, and took 43 seconds off the leading pair of Armstrong and German Jan Ullrich at the top.
Armstrong, bidding for a record-equalling fifth victory next Sunday, retained his leader's yellow jersey by a thread, with Ullrich second, 15 seconds behind, and Vinokourov third, 18 seconds adrift.
Simoni finished ahead of two other mountain specialists, Frenchman Richard Virenque and Swiss Laurent Dufaux, with the Armstrong group provisionally 1:24 behind.