Armstrong claims stage win despite day of near disasters
Armstrong's first stage win of the race re-launched his bid for a fifth straight yellow jersey after it looked under serious threat from Germany's 1997 winner Jan Ullrich and Telekom's Alexandre Vinokourov in the past two days.
Four-time race winner Armstrong, who increased his lead of 15sec on the German before the stage to 1min 07sec, crashed around six kilometres before the summit finish in the Pyrenees after his handlebars got entangled with a spectator's bag.
