TOUR DE FRANCE Despite fall, Armstrong stretches lead over Jan Ullrich

The defending champion leads by more than a minute.
LUZ-ARDIDEN, France (AP) -- After another scary moment at the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong summed up his experience so far this year.
"There have been a lot of strange things happening," Armstrong said. "It's been a very odd, crisis-filled Tour."
Following a crash in Monday's 15th stage, a shaken Armstrong powered to his first stage win this year -- in by far his best performance yet.
For the second time this Tour, Armstrong hit the tarmac -- when a spectator's bag wrapped around his bike's handlebars and upset his balance, sending him tumbling.
In the Tour's first stage, on July 6, Armstrong was caught in a pileup involving around 35 riders -- emerging from the carnage with a sore back that required a special masseur to be flown in from Italy to treat him.
Overcomes problems
Since then, the Texan has suffered from technical problems with his bike, ill-fitting shoes, dehydration, and the unrelenting sun gripping France in a heat wave.
Armstrong, who earned the 16th stage win of his Tour career Monday -- his first came at Verdun in 1993 -- has lamented his ill luck of late.
"After the fall, I had a rush of adrenaline, and I said one more time, 'Lance, if you'd like to win the Tour de France, it's today,"' he said.
"That's sometimes the best way for me to ride -- angry," Armstrong said.
Armstrong crossed the line 40 seconds ahead of Jan Ullrich, slumped over his handlebars, drained. Overall, thanks to bonus time he got for finishing first, Armstrong widened the gap over the 29-year-old German to 67 seconds -- giving him a vital cushion for crucial days ahead to the finish in Paris on Sunday.
"I was desperate today," Armstrong said. "I knew I had to put some time into Ullrich ahead of the next time trial."
Ullrich, a Tour winner in 1997 and a runner-up to Armstrong in 2000 and 2001, showed he is a gentleman as well as an outstanding competitor.
Wouldn't take advantage
Following Armstrong's fall -- after which Spain's Iban Mayo rammed into the back of the Texan and also fell -- Ullrich had the yellow jersey within his reach with a handful of miles left.
But instead of surging ahead, the German glanced back anxiously then waited, before forming a line in a slow procession with several other riders -- including Armstrong's former U.S. Postal teammate Tyler Hamilton -- allowing the Texan to catch up.
"Jan's an honorable guy," Armstrong said. "He probably didn't forget that when he crashed in 2001 in what appeared to be a serious crash, I told everyone, 'We can't race until he gets back up."'
There is no animosity between the pair whose battle this year could last all the way to the Champs-Elysees on July 27.
"As we say in English, 'What goes around, comes around,' and so I appreciate him doing that," Armstrong said.
With one mountain stage left Wednesday -- three Alpine and three Pyrenees stages have been conquered so far -- Ullrich sits 1:07 behind the Texan.
However, Ullrich will take heart from the recent time trial, where he beat Armstrong by 1:36.
Saturday's penultimate stage on July 26 in Nantes is another race against the clock, over a distance of 30.43 miles.
Should the pair enter the showdown with around a minute separating them, it could be too close to call. Kazhakstan rider Alexandre Vinokourov may now be out of contention. Following an eighth-place finish Monday, Vinokourov is 2:45 behind Armstrong.
Mayo placed second Monday, 40 seconds behind Armstrong in the 99-mile trek from Bagneres-de-Bigorre to Luz-Ardiden. Ullrich finished third, in the same time as Mayo.
Day of rest
Riders have a rest day today, before tackling the final of this year's seven mountain stages Wednesday -- a 122.45-mile mountain route from Pau to Bayonne featuring three ascents exceeding 3,300 feet in height.
Following the mountain trek are two flat stages Thursday and Friday. Armstrong will hope to avoid further mishaps as he bids to join Spain's Miguel Indurain as the only cyclist ever to have won the Tour five times in a row. "This has been a Tour of too many problems," Armstrong said. "I wish I could just have some uneventful days."
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