Cycling: Virenque conquers 'Bald Giant' with panache

Frenchman sets blistering pace to claim stage victory but high-speed pursuit allows Armstrong to extend his overall advantage

Richard Virenque reaped rich rewards from a 203-kilometre breakaway yesterday, when he succeeded in fending off a rampaging Lance Armstrong for a prestigious stage win on Mont Ventoux.

One by one the 10 other riders who had accompanied the veteran Frenchman on the day-long break through the scorching 35-degree heat of Provence in July cracked on the unremitting 21km final ascent.

Even before the Frenchman emerged from the pinewoods and onto the vast limestone scree-slopes that lead to the summit of the Ventoux – and which give the mountain one of its many nicknames, the Bald Giant, Virenque had shaken off the last, and most persistent of his fellow breakaways, climber Alexandre Botcharov.

Virenque crossed the line 1min 58sec ahead of the Ag2R rider for France's second stage win of the Tour, his right index finger pointing to the sky with his trademark "smoking gun" salute. Never a rider to understate his case, Virenque declared: "When I win, I win with panache. I got a great deal of support from the public, and their cheers drove me on."

Considered the black sheep of French cycling following his central role in the Festina doping scandals in 1998. It was two and a half years later before Virenque finally confessed to having consumed illegal substances during his leadership of the team.

Then after eking out an eight-month suspension, and facing universal rejection from French squads, Virenque took sporting exile by joining the Belgian team Domo-Farm Frites for the minimum wage of £800 a month. The Frenchman began his sporting comeback with a courageous 200km break in the Paris-Tours World Cup last October, fending off the peloton by a handful of seconds.

Given that his only regret, the ever-publicity conscious Virenque said, was that his victory did not gain as much media coverage as it had deserved because the Americans had begun their attacks on Afghanistan on the same day, it was purely ironic that the biggest threat to his publicity drive on the Ventoux was yet again a product of the United States.

None other than race leader Armstrong, in fact. The US Postal rider, who is, as it happens a close friend of US President George W Bush, launched his own particular sporting strike after looking vulnerable on the lower slopes of the final climb, when he was isolated from his usually powerful team.

Provoked by a brief attack by Joseba Beloki – his closest rival in the general classification – six and a half kilometres from the line, Armstrong charged off alone, partly in pursuit of a victory that has eluded him on the Ventoux, partly to increase his overall lead on the Basque.

With Virenque four minutes ahead, unless the Frenchman cracked completely it was difficult to envisage Armstrong overtaking him, but as the American said of his top climbing domestique Roberto Heras – who badly underperformed on the Ventoux – "this is a mountain which does strange things to people". Whilst Beloki was fortunate enough to have teammate Mikel Pradera's wheel to follow, Armstrong pounded away at over 20km an hour. The 30-year-old opened up a minute's gap on the Basque in less than three kilometres before he decided to steady his pace slightly, realising that it was too late to catch Virenque.

Maintaining his high speed pedalling rhythm as he flashed around the final right-hand bend under the now-defunct weather station, Armstrong crossed the line in third place, 1min 45sec ahead of Beloki.

"I didn't come here to win on the Ventoux, I came here to win the Tour," said Armstrong, whose lead now stretches to four minutes overall. "We'll be coming back here again, I guess, before I retire." Making a play on words on the American's surname, Beloki tersely observed afterwards that "We've been on the moon today, and we've seen what the astronaut is capable of. Now all I can do is fight for second place." If Beloki was in a grim mood afterwards, his team-mate and former race leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was in an even worse humour. The ONCE-Eroski rider suffered badly on the Ventoux, and finished nearly six minutes behind Armstrong, losing his third place to Lithuania's Raimondas Rumsas.

WEEKEND TOUR RESULTS

STAGE 13 (Lavelanet to Béziers, 171km): 1 D Millar (GB) Cofidis 4hr 8min 18sec; 2 D Etxebarria (Sp) Euskaltel; 3 M Boogerd (Neth) Rabobank; 4 L Brochard (Fr) Jean Delatour all same time; 5 D Latasa (Sp) Ibanesto.com +4sec; 6 J Pascual-Rodriguez (Sp) Ibanesto.com +56; 7 E Mazzoleni (It) Tacconi Sports s/t; 8 M Martinez (Fr) Mapei-Quick Step +1min 6sec; 9 B Zberg (Switz) Rabobank s/t; 10 B Julich (US) Deutsche Telekom +1:08; 11 L Jalabert (Fr) CSC-Tiscali +1:10; 12 B Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com +9:56; 13 R McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco; 14 E Zabel (Ger) Deutsche Telekom; 15 S O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole; 16 J Svorada (Cz Rep) Lampre-Daikin; 17 S Hinault (Fr) Credit Agricole; 18 J Piil (Den) CSC-Tiscali; 19 Andrea Tafi (It) Mapei-Quick Step 20 C Agnolutto (Fr) AG2r Prevoyance; 21 B De Groot (Neth) Rabobank; 22 N Mattan (Bel) Cofidis; 23 O Sevilla (Sp) Kelme; 24 F Mancebo (Sp) Ibanesto.com; 25 I Basso (It) Fassa Bortolo; 26 M Velo (It) Fassa Bortolo; 27 D Hondo (Ger) Deutsche Telekom; 28 J Rubiera (Spa) US Postal; 29 F Landis (US) US Postal; 30 L Armstrong (US) US Postal all s/t.

STAGE 14 (Lodève to Mont Ventoux, 221km): 1 R Virenque (Fr) Domo-Farm Frites 5hr 43min 26sec; 2 A Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance +1min 58sec; 3 L Armstrong (US) US Postal Service +2:20; 4 M Serpellini (It) Lampre Daikin +2:54; 5 R Rumsas (Lith) Lampre Daikin +3:36; 6 I Basso (It) Fassa Bortolo +3:39; 7 F Mancebo (Sp) iBanesto.com +3:51; 8 J Beloki (Sp) ONCE-Eroski +4:05; 9 D Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com +4:10; 10 I Gotti (It) Alessio +4:16; 11 L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank +4:25; 12 J Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski +4:45; 13 S Goubert (Fr) Jean Delatour +5:25; 14 D Moncoutii (Fr) Cofidis +5:46; 15 R Heras Hernandez (Spa) US Postal Service same time; 16 O Sevilla (Sp) Kelme-Costa Blanca +5:52; 17 C Moreni (It) Alessio 5:57; 18 J-C Robin (Fr) FDJeux.com +7:07; 19 T Hamilton (US) CSC-Tiscali s/t; 20 M Pradera (Sp) ONCE-Eroski +7:29; 21 I Gonzalez de Galdeano (Sp) Once-Eroski; 22 R Laiseka (Spin) Euskaltel s/t; 23 M Boogerd (Neth) Rabobank +7:47; 24 M Lelli (It) Cofidis +7:57; 25 A Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis +8:01; 26 U Osa (Sp) Ibanesto.com +8:14; 27 W Belli (It) Fassa Bortolo s/t; 28 J-L Rubiera (Sp) US Postal +8:30; 29 C Sastre (Sp) CSC-Tiscali +8:37; 30 N Vogondy (Fr) FDJeux.com s/t. Abandoned: P Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi-Sports. Selected: 67 D Millar (GB) Cofidis +18.00.

Overall standings: 1 Armstrong 56hr 51min 39sec; 2 Beloki +4min 21sec; 3 Rumsas +6:39; 4 Gonzalez de Galdeano +8:36; 5 F Mancebo +10:49; 6 Azevedo +10:57; 7 Heras Hernandez +11:35; 8 Sevilla +12:45; 9 L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank +12:54; 10 Virenque +13:12; 11 I Basso +13:56; 12 Moncoutii +14:44; 13 C Sastre (Sp) CSC-Tiscali +16:17; 14 Kivilev +17:28; 15 B Zberg (Swit) Rabobank +17:41; 16 Goubert +18:12; 17 Boogerd +18:33; 18 S Botero (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca +18:36; 19 T Hamilton (US) CSC-Tiscali +18:59; 20 M Lelli (Ita) Cofidis +19:12; 21 N Vogondy (Fr) FDJeux.com +20:01; 22 Osa +21:00; 23 H Zubeldia (Sp) Euskaltel +21:45; 24 W Belli (It) Fassa Bortolo +22:46; 25 J-C Robin (Fr) FDJeux.com +23:06. Selected: 56 Millar +55:52. Points standings: 1 R McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 229pts; 2 E Zabel (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 229; 3 S O'Grady (Aus) Crédit Agricole 170; 4 B Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 162; 5 J Svorada (Cz Rep) Lampre-Daikin 129; 6 L Brochard (Fr) Jean Delatour 86. Mountain standings: 1 L Jalabert (Fr) CSC-Tiscali 167pts; 2 Armstrong 114; 3 Virenque 99; 4 Beloki 80; 5 L Dufaux (Swit) Alessio 66; 6 A Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 63. Team standings: 1 ONCE 170hr 56min 59sec; 3 US Postal +7min 56sec; 3 Ibanesto.com +8:32; 4 Cofidis +9:27; 5 Rabobank +19:14.