Armstrong claims stage win despite day of near disasters

LANCE ARMSTRONG defiantly shrugged of a crash with a spectator and another close shave to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France to Luz-Ardiden yesterday and extend his race lead.

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.