Alexandre Vinokourov, who only two days earlier was viewed as a yellow-jersey threat, slipped past Lance Armstrong and the rest of the big names at the Tour de France roughly 18 miles into Wednesday’s Stage 11. Armstrong let him go.
“We can’t chase everything,” said Armstrong, who maintained his lead in the overall standings Wednesday as he tries for an unprecedented seventh straight Tour championship. “We have to prioritize. He wasn’t on our list of priorities.”
No matter how hard Vinokourov pedaled on a warm, humid Wednesday, he could do nothing to erase what happened Tuesday–the first significant day in the Alps, when he lost more than five minutes to Armstrong and was the first of the pre-Tour favorites to drop off the back.
“Vino is coming a bit late,” Discovery Team director Johan Bruyneel said.
“[Tuesday] was critical for us,” Armstrong said. “Today we could relax. The team did super. They controlled everything.”
Armstrong, who always had at least four teammates around him on the steepest of the climbs, stayed conservative Wednesday and easily maintained his 38-second advantage over climbing specialist Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark.
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France’s Christophe Moreau, thanks to a time bonus for third place in the stage, edged past Ivan Basso into third overall, 2:40 behind Armstrong.
Vinokourov stayed out front uncontested for most of the 107.5 miles from Courchevel to Briancon, going over the two “beyond category” climbs and then riding down a fleet 15 miles into an Alpine valley.
He built as much as a 3:30 advantage over Armstrong. But that margin shrunk to 1:15 by stage end, where Vinokourov nudged past Santiago Botero for the victory.
Even the aggressive Vinokourov knew 1:15 wasn’t much of a gain, considering all the energy he expended as he rode solo. Vinokourov moved only to 12th overall, 4:47 behind Armstrong.
His gamble did provide a mental boost to a decimated T-Mobile squad, which had seen all three of its podium contenders break Tuesday on the climb to Courchevel.
Most of the other top challengers, including Basso and Jan Ullrich, stayed near Armstrong on Wednesday.