Voigt Climbs to Tour’s Top

MULHOUSE, France —  Lance Armstrong happily surrendered his yellow jersey Sunday, handing over the honor of being No. 1 at the Tour de France to German Jens Voigt.

But with the honor comes the pressure of defending the sunny shirt. Armstrong and his weary Discovery Channel teammates seemed content to relinquish the role of leader to Voigt and his CSC teammates after Sunday’s ninth stage, a 106.3-mile roller-coaster trip up and down six big hills through the Vosges mountains of eastern France.

The stage winner was an ecstatic Dane. Mickael Rasmussen, a former mountain biker, was the first man over each of the six climbs. Rasmussen finished in a time of 4 hours 8 minutes 20 seconds, won his first Tour stage and moved up to fourth place overall. Voigt finished 3:04 behind Rasmussen. Armstrong was 28th and in the middle of the peloton that was 2:18 behind Voigt.

To the delight of the thousands of fans who stuck it out through high winds and occasional rain, Frenchman Christophe Moreau is second overall, 1:50 behind Voigt.

Armstrong is third, though he lost no time to the men considered his top competitors.

The T-Mobile trio of Alexandre Vinokourov (fifth, 1:02 behind Armstrong); Jan Ullrich (eighth, 1:36 behind Armstrong) and Andreas Kloden (11th, 1:50 behind) remain well-positioned, as does Voigt’s teammate Ivan Basso, who is seventh, 1:26 behind Armstrong.

The important thing to take away from Sunday’s racing is that his teammates rode strongly and stayed with him, Armstrong said. On Saturday, Armstrong, 33, found himself alone on the final climb and in the midst of the strongest of CSC and T-Mobile racers.

“We don’t need the yellow jersey,” Armstrong said. “We don’t need to keep it through the Alps. We need to have it at the end. I felt like today might be the day when the jersey was given away, and that’s how it turned out.”

And it is worth noting that last year Armstrong took over the yellow jersey after the team time trial, then gave it up for the next 10 days to Frenchman Thomas Voeckler. This year Armstrong won yellow again after the team time trial but defended the yellow for five days. Enough was enough.

“As I keep saying, it’s not important to have yellow now,” he said. “It’s important July 24.”

Voigt, 33, is not considered a serious threat to win the Tour, though he wore the yellow jersey once before in 2001.

Said Armstrong: “Voigt is not their guy in the mountains.”

Added Voigt: “I don’t think anybody expects me to be in first coming out of the mountains. Today was my very last chance to take the jersey.”

But Voigt’s hope is that he hands off the yellow to Basso, his young teammate who stuck with Armstrong last year in the mountains before finishing third overall. “It would be ideal if that happens,” Voigt said. “I’m not complaining. You can’t have it all. At CSC, we are all riding for Basso. We are going to protect him.”

After the first of two rest days in the 21-stage journey today, the Tour resumes Tuesday with big climbs to the ski resort of Courchevel. It is the kind of stage where the T-Mobile riders are likely to attack Armstrong and Discovery Channel again.

Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour and has finished second five times since, had more bad luck. The German, who crashed into a team car on a practice ride the day before this Tour began, skidded off the bike on a descent Sunday. Ullrich said he was toppled by a gust of wind.

“I had a big crash,” he said. “I did three or four somersaults.” He said that his right side hurt but that he expected to be fine by Tuesday.

Rasmussen was clearly determined to make Sunday a special day. He took off for the lead in the first 10 miles of the stage, and he never gave it up.

Last winter Rasmussen, who won the world cross-country cycling title in 1997, said he canvassed this stage because, he said: “I thought it would be possible for me to win. So I knew what was coming, and I think that was an advantage. Ever since I started cycling I was dreaming about winning a stage like today. It’s the only thing I’m good at, climbing mountains.”

Armstrong’s Discovery Channel teammates performed as if they liked climbing mountains too.

On Saturday, with the exception of Armstrong, the “blue train” as the team is called, was more like the “blue buggy,” with Armstrong pulling his stragglers up.

“We were better today,” Armstrong said. “That’s a good thing going into the rest day. Now we regroup and get ready for the big climbs.”

The big ascent Sunday was the Ballon d’Alsace, a mountain first climbed by Tour riders 100 years ago.

The one dark moment for CSC was that American David Zabriskie, who wore the yellow jersey a week ago before crashing in the team trial, didn’t get to make the climb. He gave in to his slashed elbow and swollen knee and dropped out.

“He’s my hero,” Voigt said. “He tried so hard.” But now CSC is down to eight riders. Armstrong has all his teammates.

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Tour de France: Stage 9 at a glance

Riders have today off. The 10th Stage of the Tour de France will be held Tuesday. Sunday’s results:

* Stage: 106.3-mile route from Gerardmer to Mulhouse in eastern France; six climbs.

* Winner: Mickael Rasmussen, Denmark, Rabobank, in 4 hours 8 minutes 20 seconds.

* How others fared: Lance Armstrong was 28th and Jan Ullrich 29th, both 6:04 behind.

* Yellow jersey: Armstrong gave up the yellow jersey to Voigt -- and dropped 2:18 behind him in the overall standings.

* Quote of the day: “We don’t need the yellow jersey. We don’t need to keep it through the Alps. We need to have it at the end.” -- Armstrong.

* On the web: For more information on the Tour de France, including Diane Pucin’s blog, photo galleries and up-to-the-minute standings, please visit latimes.com/tour.

*

OVERALL LEADERS

1. Jens Voigt, Germany 32:18:23

2. Christophe Moreau, France 1:50 behind

3. Lance Armstrong, U.S. 2:18 behind

4. Mickael Rasmussen, Denmark 2:43 behind

5. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan 3:20 behind

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STAGE 9 RESULTS

1. Mickael Rasmussen, Denmark 4:08:20

2. Christophe Moreau, France 3:04 behind

3. Jens Voigt, Germany 3:04 behind

4. Stuart O’Grady, Australia 6:04 behind

5. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium 6:04 behind