Cycling:Lance Armstrong's dream of an eighth Tour de France title is all but over after the seven-time champion endured a tumultuous day in the Alps today.
Andy Schleck, the 2009 runner-up, won the race to the summit-top finish at Morzine-Avoriaz but the day was more notable for the implosion of Armstrong.
Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) won a sprint finish with Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel Euskadi) to take the stage victory — his first Tour triumph — while Alberto Contador, the undisputed leader of Armstrong’s former Astana team, finished alongside a group of favourites 10 seconds further back.
World champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) was among the Contador group and assumed the race lead from Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep) with a 20-second advantage over Schleck. Contador moved up to third place.
Nicolas Roche slipped out of the top 10, the Irish rider falling to 16th as he lost ground on the overall leaders.
A total of nine riders finished in the Contador-Evans group, with the Spaniard now 61 seconds behind the Australian in the general classification standings. Armstrong, meanwhile, finished 11:45 behind Schleck.
“My Tour’s finished,” said Armstrong. “But I’m not going to complain. This is just a bad day. It went from bad to worse.”
The 189-kilometre eighth stage from Station des Rousses to the Morzine-Avoriaz ski resort was eventful from the sixth kilometre for the Team RadioShack leader. In truth Armstrong was not solely the architect of his own downfall.
Soon after the race began, he had to swerve on to a grass verge following a crash in the peloton. Then, with 50km remaining, he hit the tarmac on the exit of a round-a-bout and had to be paced back to the peloton by four of his team-mates.
Perhaps that exertion affected him as the Texan was dropped by his rivals — led by his former Astana team — on the 97th Tour’s first category one climb, the Col de La Ramaz, looking very much like a man who is two months short of his 39th birthday.
Then Armstrong suffered a further incident, unseated after two Euskaltel Euskadi riders collided in front of him.
The American attempted to respond on the 13.6km ascent of Morzine-Avoriaz, but the deficit was too great as he trailed in in 61st place to now lie 39th overall, 13:26 behind Schleck.
“I felt very, very good,” said Schleck. “I had a tactic and I wanted to keep to it. The tactic wasn’t to go for it today but I take a lot of confidence from today’s result.
“I’ve just got to thank my team for everything they’ve done today. I’m going to be there for them and they’re going to be there for me. The preparation has been right for this Tour. I’m in very good shape, yes I’m confident.”