Franck Fife / AFP - Getty Images

Overall Tour de France leader Lance Armstrong keeps an eye on rival Jan Ullrich, left, as Ivan Basso keeps pace during the 15th stage of the Tour on Sunday.

updated 9:18 a.m. ET July 19, 2005

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, France - As Lance Armstrong prepared for what may be hardest stage of the Tour de France, the widow of a friend and teammate killed in a crash a decade ago told him to go for the win.

That was the only thing that didn’t work out for Armstrong Sunday, which he called “a perfect day.”

Armstrong settled for watching his most loyal teammate, genial New Yorker George Hincapie, pedal to victory high in the Pyrenees — his first-ever individual stage victory in the Tour and the first by one of Armstrong’s support riders.

And, taking care of business, Armstrong solidified his overall race lead in the brutal 15th stage — staying on track to retire with a seventh consecutive Tour victory next Sunday.

At the finish, the two riders — friends since they were teenagers — hugged and Armstrong gave a thumbs-up.

“This is a dream for me,” the 32-year-old Hincapie said. “I’m really in a state of shock.”

The 33-year-old Armstrong called Hincapie “my biggest guy, my biggest friend on the team.”

“We’ve been riding together since we were 17,” said Armstrong, who finished seventh. “The guy is one of the best riders in cycling. Period. I’m so proud of him.”

Usually, Armstrong’s teammates devote themselves entirely to making sure that he wins, and have few chances for Tour glory of their own. Their only wins have been collective ones — in team time trials that Armstrong’s squad won for the third consecutive time this year.

Javier Soriano / AFP - Getty Images George Hincapie fought off Oscar Pereiro to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday.

But in the sun-baked 127.7-mile trek up six mountain climbs, Hincapie joined a group of riders that broke away from the main pack, which included Armstrong.

Hincapie said he went with that group thinking that Armstrong would catch up to him later in the stage. But the breakaway group built a lead of more than 18 minutes. At that point, Armstrong’s team manager gave Hincapie the green light to ride for himself.

“I just started thinking about the win,” Hincapie said. “For it to work out is just a dream come true.”