As Armstrong Reluctantly Wears Yellow, McEwen Sprints Past Boonen to Finish

Lance Armstrong retained the yellow jersey during the fifth stage of the Tour de France yesterday, but if he had his way, he would have raced from start to finish in Discovery Channel blue.

Armstrong earned the leader's jersey after Tuesday's time trial, which his Discovery Channel team won after the overall leader at the time, David Zabriskie, had a hard crash with two kilometers to go. The crash knocked his CSC team - who were leading the time trial at that moment - into second place, and Zabriskie out of first place. Zabriskie suffered major abrasions, but was healthy enough to continue the race.

Out of respect for his injured compatriot and former teammate, Armstrong rode the five kilometers of the neutral zone yesterday morning wearing his regular team jersey. Normally, the cyclists pedal right through the starting line after those five kilometers and the race is on. Instead, the riders were halted, and tour officials drove up behind the Texan and offered him an ultimatum from the passenger seat window: Either he put on the leader's jersey, in compliance with Article 10 of Tour de France rules, or he would not be allowed to start today. Respect yielded to decorum, and Armstrong exchanged blue for yellow.

"I watched television last night and felt sick," he explained yesterday. "CSC were very close, and without the crash they would have had a great chance of winning ... On top of it all, the jersey went from one American guy to another. I didn't feel like wearing it."

He pointed out that Greg LeMond, the first American to win the Tour de France, did not don the yellow on the 1990 Tour after rival Rolf Sorensen crashed and relinquished the lead. In that case, no yellow jersey was presented. Eddy Merckx did the same thing in 1971 when Luis Ocana crashed in the Pyrenees while leading the race.

Planning out its strategy for the mostly flat 183 kilometers from Chambord to Montargis, Discovery Channel was faced with the question of whether to chase down breakaways and conserve the overall lead, or to save their energy for the mountains next week. In the end, that choice was made for them by the Quick-Step and Davitamon teams and their dueling sprinters, Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen.

At about 20 kilometers from the start, Argentina's Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) mounted the first serious attack of the day. Three riders - Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole), Italian Salvatore Commesso (Lampre-Caffita), and Finland's Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas-Bianchi) - gave chase, and closed in on him at the 87 kilometer mark. They gained a 4-minute 10-second lead on the peloton, but the margin would not grow.

Scattered showers made the course slick, and a noticeable tailwind made it fast. As the peloton picked up pace through a traffic circle, a crash took down one of the top contenders, Ivan Basso (CSC). He managed to get back on the saddle and finish with the group.

But as the rain tapered off and sun appeared through the clouds, Quick Step and Davitamon broke out in front of the group and ratcheted up the speed. They gradually closed in on the breakaway, swallowing up Flecha and company with just 11 kilometers to go.

In the final stretch, it came down to the head-to-head everyone expected, and can expect to see until the Tour starts going uphill: Boonen vs. McEwen. This time, Boonen struck first. With 1,500 meters to the finish line, he overtook the riders from FDJ who were leading the pack of sprinters out.

But McEwen was tight on his rear tire. With about 25 meters to go, the Aussie tore off to Boonen's left, clocking 63 km/h on a slight incline, and threw his bicycle out to steal a half-wheel-length victory over the Belgian. He pointed his index fingers at his chest, reminding the crowd that this rivalry is still alive. The score, by stage victories: Boonen 2, McEwen 1.

Today, the race travels 199 kilometers from Troyes to Nancy. The expected rain will complicate an undulating course with four small climbs. It's likely another stage for the sprinters, but it's possible with rain and the tough course that a breakaway could stick and propel a lesser-known rider into yellow.