Cycling: Armstrong determined to turn screw tighter

Hushovd ends Norway's 15-year drought with stage win as race leader coasts towards fourth successive Tour title

As Norway's 15-year drought of Tour de France stage wins was brought to an end yesterday by Thor Hushovd in a three-up sprint, the unquenchable Lance Armstrong remained on course to win his fourth consecutive Tour.

Armstrong's margin of 5min 6sec over second-placed Joseba Beloki and 7:28 over Raimondas Rumsas, the first Lithuanian ever to make the Tour de France podium, leaves no room for doubt as to which rider has once again outgunned all the opposition, just as he has done since 1999.

None the less, Armstrong admitted that he would use today's 50 kilometre final time trial between Regnié-Durette and Macon "to show exactly why I am in yellow. It's time for the race leader to give a convincing performance".

You can not call this a new philosophy for the 30-year-old Texan. He has won the last time trial of the Tour for three years running, even though on each occasion he had opened up a more than sufficient margin on his closest pursuers.

However, this time Armstrong is more determined than ever to win what is effectively the last serious day of competition in the 89th Tour de France. Having lost the opening time trial of the race, at Lorient a fortnight ago to the Colombian Santiago Botero, the US Postal leader wishes to prove that his defeat by an 11-second margin to the Kelme-Costa Blanca rider was merely circumstantial.

"I had a rough day there, that's true," he said, "and I don't know why. I was never really stressed about it, a little concerned maybe, but I knew the Tour is very long and that there would be a lot of other opportunities."

None the less, Armstrong deliberately used an easier gear than usual on yesterday's seven classified climbs, which brought the Tour out of the Alps and down into the flatlands north of Lyon. "That way I didn't use up so much energy," the Texan claimed, "and I'll be more ready for the time trial." Evidence – if any were needed – that despite being comfortably within sight of overall victory, his ambition is as alive as ever.

As for the question of a fifth or sixth, the American was more evasive, simply saying that: "I am going to be around for a few more years. But I would never say 'I'm going to take five or six Tours'. That would be suicidal."

Probably the most worrying factor for Armstrong, rather than his rivals, continues to be his complicated relationship with the French public. Last Sunday after the Ventoux the Texan delivered some acid criticisms of certain groups of spectators on the climb, alleging that "if I had a dollar for every time somebody yelled 'dopé', I'd be a rich man".

Since then – rarely for Armstrong – he has backpedalled, arguing instead that: "It was only about 20 per cent of the public on the Ventoux who didn't give me a warm welcome. But I'm not here to be Mr Popular."

If he does not take the time trial today it will hardly be a major tragedy for the Postal rider but at the opposite end of the Tour spectrum, Norway's Hushovd and his Credit Agricole team had rather more pressing need to see one of the squad's riders raise their arms in victory. The green team's spectacularly successful Tour last year – six days in yellow, a win in the prestigious team time trial – could hardly contrast more with their misfortunes and poor showings in this year's race.

Team leader and overall contender Christophe Moreau crashed no fewer than four times before quitting in tears on the first Alpine stage with a badly cut face, team domestique Jonathan Vaughters crashed on a Pyrenean descent and abandoned the race for a fourth consecutive year. He was so distraught that he then decided to quit the squad altogether to concentrate on his studies and the cycling scene in faraway Colorado. Until yesterday, Credit Agricole were one of just two French teams not to take a stage win.

As for Hushovd, the burly former junior World time trial champion was dead last on stage two of the Tour after suffering painful cramps, and then, being so far behind, he was blocked in by members of the French public who thought the race had already passed.

Yesterday's hilly stage was another story, though, as the Norwegian sneaked off the front from a nine-man breakaway on the last of the undulating descents towards Bourg-en-Bresse in the company of Frenchman Christophe Mengin and Jakob Piil, the former Danish champion. Piil, who led out the sprint in the ideal position, at the back of the three-man train, was unlucky enough to pull his foot out of his pedal, landing painfully on the cross-bar.

It was left to Mengin and Hushovd to battle it out, with the Norwegian finally managing to squeak home by the tiniest of margins over the Frenchman.

* Telekom have confirmed that Jan Ullrich, recently found positive with amphetamines, has been suspended without pay but will not be thrown out of the team.

Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly

Yesterday's Tour Results

Stage 18 (Cluses to Bourg-en-Bresse) 176.5km: 1 T Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 4hr 28min 28sec; 2 C Mengin (Fr) fdjeux.com same time; 3 J Piil (Den) CSC-Tiscali +5sec; 4 L Van Bon (Neth) Domo Farm Frites +33; 5 J Jaksche (Ger) Once s/t; 6 N Sorensen (Den) CSC-Tiscali s/t; 7 G Matteo Fagnini (It) Telekom +40; 8 E Dekker (Neth) Rabobank s/t; 9 T Loder (Fr) AG2R s/t; 10 N Loda (It) Fassa Bortolo +6min 59sec; 11 R McEwen (Aus) Lotto +11:42; 12 E Zabel (Ger) Telekom +11:42; 13 S O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole s/t; 14 J Svorada (Cz Rep) Lampre s/t; 15 B Cooke (Aus) fdjeux.com s/t. Selected others: 22 J Beloki (Sp) Once s/t; 24 L Armstrong (US) US Postal Service s/t; 28 S Botero (Col) Kelme s/t; 47 R Rumsas (Lith) Lampre s/t; 49 I Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp) Once s/t. Overall standings: 1 Armstrong 77hr 30min 35sec; 2 Beloki +5min 6sec; 3 Rumsas +7:24; 4 Botero +10:59; 5 J Azevedo (Por) Once +12:08; 6 G Galdeano +12:12; 7 F Mancebo (Sp) ibanesto.com +12:28; 8 R Heras (Sp) US Postal Service +12:54; 9 L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank +13:58; 10 C Sastre (Sp ) CSC-Tiscali +14:49.