Spanish cyclist Juan Antonio Flecha won the 11th stage of the Tour de France today, a 153km ride between Narbonne and Toulouse.
The Ibanesto.com rider claimed a surprise victory when he parted company with seven other breakaway riders as many of the race favourites appeared to be conserving their energy for the first long individual time trial tomorrow. Holland's Bram De Groot finished second, while Isidro Nozal of Spain took third place.
However Lance Armstrong retained the overall lead and still holds a 21sec lead over Telekom's Alexandre Vinokourov with Euskaltel's Iban Mayo in third at 1:02 and Armstrong believes that tomorrow's time trial will go a long way to deciding the eventual winner.
"It's a very important day for everyone tomorrow, the results in the overall standings are still pretty tight so I'm hoping to do well. I know the course pretty well - it's not too hard but not too easy either," the American insisted.
"It's not extremely hard, but it will depend on the wind and the heat. It's not as long as last year, but it's a nice course," Armstrong added.
Filed by Rob Wright
