TOUR DE FRANCE Armstrong responds in grueling challenge

It hasn't been easy for the four-time champion.
PAU, France (AP) -- There are rare, inspiring moments in sports when the magic all comes together. Cycling superstar Lance Armstrong conjured his up on a mountain in the Pyrenees.
In a feat to match Michael Jordan's championship-winning basket that sunk the Utah Jazz in 1998 or Pete Sampras' comeback win at the 2002 U.S. Open, Armstrong saved his chances of capturing a record-tying fifth Tour de France on a mist-shrouded 8.3-mile stretch of road.
It's a fact of life for Armstrong that his sport cannot match basketball or tennis for popularity in his native America -- and he still may lose this year's Tour.
But in that exhausting climb to the Pyrenean ski station of Luz-Ardiden, Armstrong the true champion shone through.
The two weeks that led to his victory were as torturous as the ascent itself.
Struggled this year
Armstrong, a 31-year-old Texan steeled by his winning battle against cancer, has had a troubled Tour. Instead of dominating the three-week slog around France, he's struggled with illness, crashes, team and equipment problems and legs that lacked their usual vigor.
The Tour is perhaps sport's most grueling event; it preys on problems like those. As the miles rolled by, Armstrong's challengers have closed in. For four years, they had ridden in his dust. Now, they sensed he might be ready to fall.
Closest was Jan Ullrich, a 29-year-old German who won the Tour in 1997 and twice finished runner-up to the Armstrong in 2000 and 2001. Just 15 seconds behind the Texan overall, Ullrich was gaining momentum. Armstrong, meanwhile, was talking about losing.
On Sunday, the day before the 98.9-mile stage to Luz-Ardiden, Armstrong said he'd go home and have a cold beer if defeated. "I'm not going to cry and whine," he said.
The next morning's start in the picturesque town of Bagneres-de-Bigorre was clear and hot -- bad for Armstrong, who has struggled in the heat wave that has gripped this year's Tour. But up high, mist cooled the mountains. It was there that the day's dramas would play out.
That morning, Armstrong also awoke feeling better than he had for a while. "He said: 'I think I'm back,"' said his sporting director, Johan Bruyneel.
Ullrich pulled away
Ullrich first powered away from Armstrong on the climb to the Col du Tourmalet, a pass at 9,976-feet. The Texan, saving himself for the Luz-Ardiden ascent coming 12 miles later, let him get away, sensing Ullrich was making his move too soon.
"I said 'OK, if you're going to ride like that all day then he can win the Tour de France because I can't continue,"' Armstrong later recalled.
By the top of the 10.6-mile climb, Armstrong had closed the gap. He and Ullrich crossed the pass and sped down the descent together.
On the final ascent to Luz-Ardiden, the huge crowd lining the route was growing frenzied in anticipation. They would not be disappointed.
Armstrong and Ullrich powered into the climb, legs whirring, probing to see who would crack first. Then came the unimaginable.
Costly fall
As he was starting to pull away, skirting the crowd about 5.9 miles from the finish, Armstrong's right handlebar caught a spectator's outstretched bag, toppling him.
Iban Mayo of Spain hit Armstrong and fell, too. Ullrich, however, swerved to avoid them, and raced ahead. Armstrong's Tour, it seemed for an instant, was over. Ullrich would win.
But then two things happened. Ullrich, perhaps recalling that Armstrong had waited for him when he crashed in the 2001, slowed while the Texan picked himself up, remounted and rejoined the race.
"Ullrich showed incredible fair play," said Stephen Roche, the 1987 Tour winner. "Both of them showed they are true champions."
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