Armstrong keeps yellow after Vinokourov attack

Lance Armstrong fought off a brave attack from Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan to retain the leader‘s yellow jersey in what remains one of the closest races ever in the 100-year history of the Tour de France.

In a stage won by Italian rider Gilberto Simoni, American Armstrong had started the day just 15 seconds ahead of Germany‘s Jan Ullrich and 1min 01sec ahead of Vinokourov.

Armstrong and Ullrich remained wheel-to-wheel all day but 15km from the finish Vinokourov launched an attack in a bid to recoup the 61 second deficit and grab the yellow jersey himself.

At one point he led the German and the American by 55 seconds but then the chasers started to narrow the gap although the Kazakh still picked up 43 seconds on both men as he finished sixth on the day.

Armstrong and Ullrich finished 11th and 12th respectively.

Texan Armstrong, bidding for a record-equalling fifth overall win in Le Tour, retains his 15-second lead over 1997 champion Ullrich but now Vinokourov is just three seconds behind the German overall.

Giro d‘Italia winner Simoni, of the Saeco team, had been touted as one of Armstrong‘s main challengers but has had a poor Tour until Sunday and he prevailed over Laurent Dufaux of Switzerland and Richard Virenque of France in a sprint finish after a marathon breakaway.

Away from the battle for honours, the peloton had been reduced from 198 at the start of Le Tour to 162 before Sunday‘s 14th stage got underway.

During the 191.5km stage from Saint Girons over some steep mountains in the Pyrenees, including a brief visit to Spain, several more fell by the wayside with Italian veteran Davide Rebellin and Belgian Rik Verbrugghe among the casualties.

One rider in his element in the mountains was Virenque who is now virtually certain to retain the red-polka dot jersey for the best climber all the way to the finish in Paris where he should be crowned King of the Mountains for the sixth time in his controversial career.

Virenque made a bid for a second stage win of this year‘s Tour after the win in Morzine in the the Alps that had seen him grab the yellow jersey for 24 hours.

But the Morocco-born Frenchman, whose reputation is now restored after his leading role in the 1998 Tour de France doping scandal, was outsprinted by Simoni whose victory will help atone for what has been a disappointing Tour for a man expected to challenge Armstrong.

As for Armstrong, the 31-year-old Texan looked in better form than he had over the previous two days in which Ullrich had made up one minutes and 55 seconds on his arch-rival.

Vinokourov’s bold attempt to grab the yellow jersey means that less than 20 seconds separate the top three riders with the Tour on course to be the closest since American Greg Lemond edged Frenchman Laurent Fignon by eight seconds in the closest ever finish in 1989.

Behind the leading trio there is a four-minute gap, but Spaniards Haimar Zubeldia (4:16 behind) and Iban Mayo (4:37) could yet make a move in the Pyrenees with the support of legions of Spaniards and Basques to help them on their way.