Cycling: Mountain-man Armstrong climbs into yellow jersey

Defending champion wins 13th Tour stage of his career in commanding style after US Postal team-mate Heras reels in Jalabert

Almost all the doubts about Lance Armstrong's ability to take a fourth consecutive Tour de France were swept away in 11 rising miles to the ski station at La Mongie yesterday, as the Texan produced another devastating climbing performance that saw him both take his 13th Tour stage and regain the yellow jersey he ceded 10 days ago in Luxembourg.

As has happened every year since his first victory in 1999, the Texan romped home in first place in the race's first mountain stage. However – and here is where some question marks about his form still linger – on this occasion Armstrong did not launch his usual all-out attack at the foot of the final climb, preferring to let his team-mates do much of the spadework.

After the New Yorker George Hincapie and the Spaniard Chechu Rubiera had laid down a ferocious rhythm for him on the lower part of the ascent to the sombre-looking ski station, the last card Armstrong had to play in the US Postal pack, the 2000 Tour of Spain winner Roberto Heras, proved to be so effective that even the American admitted he "could not have attacked, it was so high a pace".

Instead, after a sudden acceleration by Heras had proved fatal for the man who yesterday lost the maillot jaune, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, for the remaining three miles, Armstrong remained close to his team-mate's back wheel, unwilling – or, if Armstrong is to be believed, unable – to use Heras high pace as a springboard.

This had a price. With Heras forging a path through the tens of thousands of Basque fans lining the route as the Texan's rivals faded, the only rider to remain with the two Postals proved to be the Once-Eroski leader Joseba Beloki.

Unlike the rest of the other contenders, all of whom were probably grateful that the day's ascent finished where it did rather than continue to the summit of the Tourmalet, the Once-Eroski leader succeeded in sticking to Armstrong. And despite Heras upping the speed even further on two occasions, in the final mile the Basque was still there.

Consequently, Armstrong's plans to reward his team worker by letting him take the stage were forced to change, as he explained afterwards. "For me, Heras was the stage winner, but with the time bonuses on offer [20 seconds for the first rider to cross the line] we couldn't afford to take any risks."

After dropping behind the Basque to ensure his final attack had the benefit of surprise, the American then bolted across and ahead of Beloki to the far side of the road, finally crossing the line with one weary upward wave of his right hand in victory.

Even so Beloki has moved up to second overall, just over a minute behind the new race leader, with the Basque's team-mate Gonzalez slipping two spots to third place, 1min 48sec adrift.

Beyond these three, though, Armstrong is already all but unreachable. The Lithuanian Raimondas Rumsas, fourth overall, is now over three minutes behind – the time traditionally considered to be a sufficient margin for any Tour leader to feel unthreatened – and the fifth-placed Santiago Botero is over a minute further back. None the less, the US Postal leader's inability to outpace his own team-mate allows some of his rivals to remain defiant.

"Armstrong is more accessible," Gonzalez said. "He's the kind of rider who always attacks when he's got the strength. Always."

Beloki, third in the last two Tours, backed up his team-mate, saying, "I am still aiming to win. Nobody here scares me." Armstrong was cautious about his advantage, claiming that "the rest of my rivals are stronger this year". While he has almost, but not quite, polished off the opposition on the first of the Tour's six mountain stages, David Millar suffered.

Still nursing a twisted rib muscle, the Scot started to slip backwards with 10 kilometres to go, finishing 54th, 7:23 down on Armstrong, and losing his lead in the best young rider's competition.

"It was a rough stage for me," the Cofidis rider said. "From now on I'll be taking it day by day." But the biggest victim of Armstrong's determination to take the Tour by the scruff of its neck was undoubtably Laurent Jalabert.

Yesterday the veteran Frenchman made a 75-mile solitary bid for a stage win, but the final climb proved his downfall and the exhausted Jalabert could only watch as the American roared past in company of Heras and Beloki with barely 3,000 metres left to race.

Considering Jalabert's previous lone break in the Pyrenees, on stage 13 last year, had also ended when Armstrong accelerated for victory, his second defeat by the Texan close to a mountain-top finish must have felt like a case of déjà vu.

Yesterday, however, he was not the only Tour rider or race follower with the sensation of having lived through this kind of scenario before.

Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly

Yesterday's tour results

STAGE 11 (Pau to La Mongie, 158km, 97.96 miles): 1 L Armstrong (US) US Postal Service 4hr 21min 57sec; 2 J Beloki (Sp) Once-Eroski +7sec; 3 R Heras Hernandez (Sp) US Postal Service +13; 4 F Mancebo (Sp) iBanesto.com +1min16sec; 5 R Rumsas (Lith) Lampre Daikin s/t; 6 O Sevilla (Sp) Kelme-Costa Blanca +1:23; 7 I Basso (It) Fassa Bortolo s/t; 8 A Kivilev (Kazak) Cofidis +1:34; 9 L Jalabert (Fr) CSC-Tiscali +1:49; 10 J Azevedo (Por) Once +1:52; 11 I Gonzalez de Galdeano (Sp) Once +1:54; 12 C Moreau (Fr) Crédit Agricole +1:57; 13 M Lelli (It) Cofidis s/t; 14 D Moncoutié (Fr) Cofidis +1:59; 15 U Osa (Sp) iBanesto s/t; 16 H Zubeldia (Sp) Euskaltel-Euskadi +2:02; 17 S Goubert (Fr) Jean Delatour +2:23; 18 M A Serrano (Sp) Once +2:24; 19 C Sastre (Sp) CSC; 20 S Botero (Col) Kelme s/t. Abandoned: M Sandstod (Den) CSC; S Perez (Sp) Kelme; J Vaughters (US) Crédit Agricole; J Kirsipuu (Est) AG2r Prevoyance.

Leading overall standings: 1 Armstrong 40hr 47min 38sec; 2 Beloki +1min 12sec; 3 Gonzalez de Galdeano +1:48; 4 Rumsas +3:32; 5 Botero +4:13; 6 Azevedo +4:31; 7 Serrano +5:17; 8 Basso +5:22; 9 Mancebo +5:33; 10 S Gontchar (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo +5:35; 11 T Hamilton (US) CSC +5:38; 12 Jalabert +5:53; 13 Sevilla +6:38; 14 Heras +6:49; 15 L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank +7:14; 16 Lelli +7:21; 17 N Vogondy (Fr) FDJeux.com +7:25; 18 A Peron (It) CSC +7:26; 19 C Sastre (Sp) CSC +7:39; 20 I Nozal (Sp) Once +8:00. Selected: 27 D Millar (GB) Cofidis +9:28.

Points standings: 1 E Zabel (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 213pts; 2 R McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 210; 3 O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 157; 4 B Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 148; 5 Jan Svorada (Cz Rep) Lampre 119.

Mountain standings: 1 P Halgand (Fr) Jean Delatour 57pts; 2 Jalabert 46; 3 Armstrong 44; 4 C Mengin (Fr) FDJ 42; 5 Beloki 36.

Team standings: 1 ONCE 122hrs 30min 21sec; 2 US Postal Service +3min 44sec; 3 Cofidis +6:38; 4 CSC-Tiscali +7:40; 5 Kelme +8:47.