Lance Armstrong recaptured the lead in the Tour de France with a commanding performance behind Alejandro Valverdein in today’s gruelling 10th stage.
The American, chasing a seventh Tour win, won considerable time over most of his rivals for overall victory in the first stage in the Alps featuring two category-one climbs.
Armstrong took second place in the the day's 181-km ride from Grenoble just behind Spain's Alejandro Valverde.
Dane Michael Rasmussen, wearing the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey, finished third and moved second overall, 38 seconds behind Armstrong.
Germany's Jan Ullrich, a pre-race favourite and 1997 Tour winner, was dropped by the main bunch 10 km from the finish, and lost over two minutes on Armstrong.
Another contender, Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, lost over five minutes.
The stage was shortened from 192.5km to 181km and delayed at the start by 40 minutes following a protest by angry Alpine farmers over recent wolf attacks on sheep and cattle.
