Lance gets chance as Tour climb starts

BARCELONA, Spain – From his perch at second overall at the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong now gets to see what his rivals can throw at him in the first of the gruelling mountain stages.

After mostly flat, wind-swept stages along the Mediterranean rim this week, cycling’s premier event shifts to a new phase in which the climbers get their chance to shine in Friday’s marathon seventh stage.

The 224-kilometer (139.2-mile) haul from Barcelona to Arcalis, Andorra, features an uphill finish – the first and hardest of three days in the Pyrenees.

“Tomorrow is an important day,” Armstrong said Thursday. “I don’t know if it’s the most important day, but it’s definitely a big appointment on this Tour.”

Armstrong was happy to emerge unscathed from Thursday’s “nervous” rain-soaked, crash-marred ride from Gerona to Barcelona, won by Norway’s Thor Hushovd in a sprint finish.

Two spills marred the last 10 kilometers (six miles) – one involving Yukiya Arashiro of Japan, another involving former world champion Tom Boonen of Belgium, one of Hushovd’s sprinting rivals.

Armstrong trails Fabian Cancellara by less than a second in the overall standings. The Swiss time-trial specialist admits he’s not the best climber, and that his is six-day run in the yellow jersey may soon end.

“What do I have to do tomorrow? It’s a good question,” he said. “It’s been a beautiful week to be in this yellow jersey. ... I’m going to try to defend it but I don’t know how well I can do.”

Carlos Sastre, the 2008 Tour champion and one of the world’s top climbers, is high on the mind of both Armstrong and his Astana teammate-cum-rival, Alberto Contador, as a potential attacker.

The 37-year-old Texan says the onus is on rivals like Sastre.   (AP)