Armstrong falls, but stays ahead of chief rivals

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 10:43 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

ANGERS, France -- Lance Armstrong recovered from an early fall today and finished in a pack behind stage winner Tom Boonen of Belgium in the Tour de France.

Armstrong, trying for a record sixth consecutive Tour de France championship, was thrown from his bike but not hurt in a crash involving a number of cyclists about 20 minutes into today's sixth stage, a 122-mile run from Bonneval to Angers.

But the fall didn't derail Armstrong's bid for another tour title as he stayed ahead of his main rivals.

He quickly got back in the race and, with help from his U.S. Postal Service teammates, caught up with the pack. He was not seriously hurt, but appeared to have a scrape on his right leg.

The spill was the first of this tour for Armstrong, a 32-year-old native Texan, and came a day after he said he was worried about crashing.

"In this race, I'm always scared, always nervous," he said. "The last two or three days for me, personally, have been really, really nerve-racking.

"It's a stressful race."

Boonen won a sprint finish today, speeding past the winner of Thursday's fifth stage, Cofidis' Stuart O'Grady of Australia, and T-Mobile rider Erik Zabel of Germany. Thomas Voeckler of France retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.

American Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Armstrong who now rides for Phonak, blew a tire, but caught up with the main group near the 36-mile mark.

Armstrong finished the route 35 seconds behind Boonen, though all riders were awarded the same time because of a crash in the final kilometer.

Armstrong remained sixth in the standings, nine minutes, 35 seconds adrift of Voeckler, who is likely to drop down the classification when the race reaches the mountain stages.

A group of six riders broke away from the peloton after 27 kilometers and held an advantage until the final five kilometers when they were caught by the pack.

With the race then set for a sprint finish a crash near the front of the peloton left a small group of riders competing for the stage win. Quick Step Davitamon rider Boonen held off challenges from O'Grady and Zabel.

Armstrong managed to avoid the crash, though he was held up. The rules of the sport state that all riders are given the same time as the stage winner if there is an incident in the final kilometer.

Meanwhile, Italian sprint specialists Mario Cipollini, 37, and Alessandro Petacchi, 30, withdrew before the stage began because of injury.

Cipollini, who has never finished the tour in eight appearances, has a leg infection, while Petacchi hurt his shoulder in a crash Thursday.

"I can't move my arm that I bruised yesterday. I don't feel like facing a Tour de France stage, I would be a danger to myself and for others," said Petacchi, a winner of four stages last year, in a statement from his Fassa Bortolo team.

Saturday's seventh stage takes the riders on a 204.5- kilometer trip from Chateaubriant to Saint-Brieuc. The race ends July 25 in Paris.