Armstrong widens Tour lead as team-mate wins 15th stage

Jul 17, 2005, 16:32 GMT

American Lance Armstrong (R) of Discovery Channel Team sprays himself with water as he cycles next to German Jan Ullrich (L) of T-Mobile Team during the fifteenth stage of the 2005 Tour de France cycling race, Sunday 17 July 2005 near Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla-d\'Adet). The 205,5km fifteenth stage of the 92nd Tour de France leads the cyclists from Lezat-sur-Leze to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla-d\'Adet). EPA/GERO BRELOER

Saint-Lary Soulan, France - Six-time champion Lance Armstrong continued to extend his lead in the 2005 Tour de France as his close friend and Discovery Channel team-mate, George Hincapie, won Sunday's grueling 15th stage in the Pyrenees Mountains.

As he did in Saturday's stage, the 33-year-old Armstrong, who is riding in his last Tour, left all his rivals except Italian Ivan Basso behind on the final climb of the day.

Armstrong finished seventh, 5:04 minutes behind the winner, but more than 1:20 minutes in front of Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark and Germany's Jan Ullrich.

He now leads Basso in the overall standings by 2:46 minutes, while Rasmussen dropped to third, 3:09 adrift, and Ullrich is 5:58 behind, in fourth.

Because there are no more imposing mountain stages left in the Tour and Armstrong is a stronger time trial rider than Basso, barring injury or illness, it seems likely that the American will pocket his seventh consecutive title when the Tour ends on July 24 in Paris.

The 32-year-old Hincapie, who beat out Spaniard Oscar Pereiro Sio to the finish, raced the 205.5 kilometres from Lezat sur Leze to Saint-Alary, which included six arduous climbs in scorching temperatures, in 6 hr 06:38 min, an average speed of 33.63 kilometres per hour.

"This is a dream come true," Hincapie said of his first-ever solo Tour stage win. "And my daughter was here to see it."

Hincapie and Armstrong have been friends for 17 years, and the New York City native is the only rider to have been on Armstrong's team for every one of his previous six titles.

"A perfect day," Armstrong said of his friend's win. "And a great day for the team."

Hincapie was part of a 14-man group that broke away from the main pack at the 27-kilometre mark and built up a lead of over 18 minutes.

The group gradually dwindled as the riders tackled the four climbs rated first category in difficulty, until Hincapie and Pereiro found themselves alone on the grueling ascent to the finish line, a climb of 10.3 kilometres rated beyond category, the highest difficulty.

Hincapie was able to sprint away from the Spaniard in the last 200 metres to score a famous victory on the Tour's most difficult stage.

"It wasn't planned that way," Hincapie said. "I wanted to break away to help Lance on the climbs. But when I saw how much of an advantage we had, I decided to go for it."

Monday is a rest day for the riders, before they tackle the last of three stages in the Pyrenees Mountains on Tuesday.