Armstrong on a high after shining in Tour warm-up
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Your support makes all the difference.Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team finished the American's last pre-Tour de France warm-up event, the Dauphiné Libéré, on a collective high when they clinched all top three places on the final stage of the eight-day race.
Armstrong's close friend George Hincapie notched up a second stage win after breaking away with team-mate Yaroslav Popovych early on. Their joint collaboration enabled them to fend off the peloton on the seven successive assaults of the Côte de Domancy climb in a 10km finishing circuit at Sallanches.
Armstrong then proved himself to be the fastest in a small chasing group, beating T-Mobile's Alexandre Vinokourov as they came in 22sec down on his two-team-mates. He finished fourth overall, a mere 59 seconds behind surprise winner Iñigo Landaluze, of Spain.
"I lacked the punch I needed to open up a gap," Armstrong, who has twice won the Dauphiné, said. "I've had to be satisfied just with following wheels, but I know that I can move up another level."
"We can see that he's right on track for the Tour." Hincapie said. "He's in better shape than in [his last race, the Tour of] Georgia in late April, he's done a couple of good tests here on the Mont Ventoux and in the long midweek time-trial."
Armstrong's rivals will be heartened by the fact that this is the first time since 1999, when he began his series of six straight victories, that the Texan will start the Tour with no wins earlier in the season.
The rider Armstrong fears the most, Jan Ullrich, secured a morale-boosting first place in stage two of the Tour of Switzerland, a tough time-trial, yesterday.
Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly.
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