Garrett Lai

Lance Armstrong is back in yellow, and back in command of the Tour de France. The Texan always said Stage 10 marked the real start of le Tour, and this was where he and the Discovery Channel squad took ownership of the race, riding the opposition into the ground with a dominating performance that humbled the rest of the field.

Tuesday’s 120-mile stage featured a fairly flat, very gradual ascent for the first 47 miles before hitting the first of two category 1 climbs. A small break went right from the gun, but without any real threats to the overall general classification, they were allowed to go, with the big teams electing to save it for the climbs.

There was a sense that things would explode in the mountains, given the mountaintop finish and its potential to scramble the overall leader board. CSC’s team director, Bjarne Riis, had stated that team leader Ivan Basso would attack in stage 10. And after T-Mobile’s repeated attacks by Alexandre Vinokourov and a victory by Andreas Klöden in stage 8, it looked as if the German ubersquad was poised to make a statement.

With 50 miles to go, Discovery went to the front and set the pace on the 6-percent slope of the Cormet-de-Roselend, the first category 1 climb of this year’s Tour. Predictably, no other teams elected to lead, letting Discovery labor at the front.

It’s hard to judge just how hard the field is working on a descent, but we saw how fast Discovery was cranking when the field hit the bottom of the final climb. Riders were immediately spit out the back, guys who had struggled to hold on during the furious descent and couldn’t take the pace. Jens Voigt, who started the day in the yellow jersey, was among the first to be dropped, and would finish 31 minutes, 29 seconds down for the day.

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At the front of the pack, the favorites were all there. Discovery rode point, followed by Vinokourov. Vino’s T-Mobile teammates Klöden and Jan Ullrich were in, as were CSC’s leader Ivan Basso and lieutenants Bobby Julich and Carlos Sastre. And with nine miles to go, CSC lit the fuse by sending Sastre up the road, prompting an acceleration that shed big names Christophe Moreau, Bobby Julich and Chris Horner from the already fragmented field. Sastre’s move lasted less than a half-mile before the Discos brought him back. And then Discovery showed its hand, and the fireworks started.

Discovery had burned themselves out on the climb, leaving Lance and Yaroslav Popovych to carry the day. Armstrong said something to his lieutenant, and suddenly Popovych was standing on his pedals, putting down a fearsome acceleration that strung out the remaining group and shed Botero and Vinokourov. It looked like a dangerously early move, burning Popovych out with seven uphill miles left and leaving Armstrong alone against T-Mobile cohorts Ullrich and Klöden, along with Basso and Phonak’s U.S. hopeful Floyd Landis. Vinokourov, who looked like pure gold Saturday, had been hovering at the back of the disintegrating group and cracked under Popovych’s burst of speed.

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