Cycling: Pyrenees offer glimmer of hope for Armstrong's chasers

MONTPELLIER, France - With six-times champion and race leader Lance Armstrong safely over the Alps, the final glimmer of hope for his dwindling rivals are this weekend's stages in the Pyrenees.

Two mountain finishes at Ax-3 Domaines on Saturday and Pla d'Adet on Sunday will provide the last chance for somebody to launch an attack on the dominant American.

"The decisive stages will be in the Pyrenees," claimed Italy's Ivan Basso, who lost more than a minute in the Alps.

"Hopefully we can save enough energy to launch an all-out attack in the Pyrenees," added 1997 Tour champion Jan Ullrich before the transition stages taking the peloton from the foot of the Alps to the Franco-Spanish mountain chain.

Unfortunately for the Texan's would be rivals, Armstrong has always thrived in the Pyrenees, winning five stages and notably the last stage held at Pla d'Adet in 2001.

However his Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel said the density of the mountain stages this year was a problem.

"The Tour is always hard, no matter how many mountain finishes," he said.

"The concentration of mountain stages is very difficult. We have six mountain stages in five days, I think it's unique." After the team's performances in the Alps it is difficult to see any of the American's rivals upsetting him.

The big question mark is the true worth of Dane Michael Rasmussen. The current mountain classification leader, impressive both in the Vosges and Alps, has never featured prominently in a three-week race.

"He is obviously a rider we will have to watch from now on," Bruyneel said, even though the former mountain bike world champion would need to take a solid lead over Armstrong not to lose it in the final time trial in St Etienne.

He is currently 38 seconds behind Armstrong.

The T-Mobile trio of Ullrich, Alexander Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden were punished in Courchevel on Tuesday and they will certainly be out for revenge.

Vinokourov, winner of the second Alps stage in Briancon, still believes Armstrong can be beaten, although he is 4:47 off the pace and looks to be too far behind.

Ullrich usually warms up as the Tour progresses and he will certainly play a more active role this time.

The German, a five-times Tour runner-up is a steady climber rather than a puncher and has never been dropped by Armstrong in the mountains in the past.

Close to home soil, Francisco Mancebo and Carlos Sastre, the last winner in Ax-3 domaines in 2002, are the only two Spaniards who can play a role in the overall standings.

A move by Basso's CSC team mates can also be expected, but only if Armstrong's team make it possible. So far, the pace imposed by the American outfit has been such that the CSC have struggled to follow, let alone attack.

One cloud on the horizon for Armstrong before the Pyrenees is the loss of diminutive Spanish climber Manuel Beltran, who crashed on Bastille Day and was forced out of the Tour.

"We have to get Jose (Azevedo), Chechu (Rubiera) and even George (Hincapie), Popo (Yaroslav Popovych) and Paolo Savoldelli to pick up the slack and I'm very confident that with those seven guys we can manage," he said.

- REUTERS