TOUR DE FRANCE Two riders sparkle over longest stage

Richard Virenque and Lance Armstrong turned in strong performances.
SAINT-FLOUR, France (AP) -- Two riders who already have made huge impressions in the Tour de France are stepping up their bids to make history.
With cycling's premier event moving closer to the daunting Pyrenees mountains, Lance Armstrong and Richard Virenque put in strong performances Wednesday in the longest stage of the race.
Virenque, a superb mountain climber with a past checkered by a drug scandal, won the 147-mile ride from Limoges after a superb solo breakaway. He finished in 6 hours, 24 seconds.
But Armstrong, trying for an unprecedented sixth straight championship, took some critical time from two key rivals. Still, he was unable to pull farther ahead of his main challenger, German Jan Ullrich, the 1997 champion.
Armstrong was among five riders called for drug tests after the 10th stage, and did not talk to reporters.
Voeckler in front
Sixth overall, Armstrong sits 55 seconds clear of 17th-place Ullrich entering today's relatively comfortable 11th stage, a 102-mile ride to Figeac.
Previously unheralded Frenchman Thomas Voeckler leads overall.
Armstrong put seven precious seconds on American Tyler Hamilton and Spaniard Roberto Heras, his former U.S. Postal teammates.
Although trailing Voeckler by 9 minutes, 35 seconds, Armstrong extended his lead over Hamilton to 43 seconds and was 1:52 ahead of Heras at the halfway mark of the competition.
Hamilton's Phonak team manager Urs Freuler put the time loss down to misfortune.
"Tyler was not in a good position in the last kilometer of the race, which is why a few seconds were lost," Freuler said.
Virenque could become the best climber in race history. Virenque, Spaniard Federico Bahamontes and Belgian Lucien Van Impe have six mountain titles each.
Stage 11 has only one climb of note. The ascent up Cote de Montsalvy stretches 4.9 miles at a grade averaging 6 percent. It is unlikely to tempt either Ullrich or Armstrong out of cruise control.
Little or no time is to be gained from attacking in such a quiet stage, so both will save energy for Friday's first of two daunting Pyrenees stages.
Stage 12 is a 122.7-mile trudge from Castelsarrasin to La Mongie that features two steep climbs close to the finish.