AX-3 DOMAINES, France — This time he did it alone. Lance Armstrong rode to the summit of this Pyrenees ski resort without a Discovery Team escort. He broke the endurance of Alexandre Vinokourov, Christophe Moreau, Andreas Kloeden, Floyd Landis, even climbing monster Mickael Rasmussen.
It took a little longer until Jan Ullrich was left behind and it wasn't until the last few meters when Armstrong spurted ahead of Ivan Basso. With sweat dripping from his arms and legs and without a silver and blue-clad mate in sight, Armstrong finished second in Saturday's 137-mile 14th stage of the Tour de France.
His overall lead grew from 38 seconds over Rasmussen to 1:41. Basso is third, 2:46 behind; Ullrich is fourth, 4:34 behind; Vinokourov fell back to ninth overall, 7:09 behind.
"Lance was strong," Vinokourov said. "But we'll keep attacking."
Americans Levi Leipheimer and Landis moved up to fifth and sixth overall, enhancing the possibility that two U.S. cyclists could be on the podium for the first time when the Tour finishes in Paris next Sunday.
A tearful Georg Totschnig became only the second Austrian in history to win a stage when he held off Armstrong and Basso and climbed the final summit in searing heat that had passed 95 degrees most of the afternoon. Totschnig won the stage in 5 hours 43 minutes 43 seconds, 56 seconds ahead of Armstrong.
After throwing his arms in the air, Totschnig, 34, and a Gerolsteiner teammate of Leipheimer's, fell to the hot pavement and wept.
"I had an extraordinary day," Totschnig said. "I didn't think it was possible for me to win a stage like that with Lance Armstrong chasing me. On the last kilometer I shut off my brain. I just pedaled and pedaled. I couldn't even zip up my jersey at the finish line."
Totschnig said he almost withdrew last week after feeling ill. "Now," he said, "I have the biggest day in my sporting life."
Last week, when Armstrong's teammates lost contact with their 33-year-old leader, Armstrong said it would be a problem if the same thing happened again.
It happened again Saturday, with Discovery mountain specialist Manuel Beltran out of the race with a concussion, when T-Mobile made several attacks.
The final one came during the day's steepest rise, a 9.4-mile climb up Port de Pailheres, when Vinokourov led T-Mobile on its final stab at Armstrong's advantage. Soon Armstrong was the only Discovery Channel rider climbing the ascent.
