Lance Armstrong surrendered the overall lead in the Tour de France yesterday, handing the yellow jersey to German rider Jens Voigt (CSC) after a tiring weekend for the Texan’s Discovery Channel team. The six-time defending champion finished in the main pack yesterday, some six minutes behind Stage 9 winner Mickael Rasmussen (Rabobank), and three minutes behind Voigt and Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole). Armstrong is now in third place overall.

The change of leaders was entirely expected. Going into the stage, Armstrong said he was prepared to give up the lead to take pressure off himself and his team before the Tour hits the Alps tomorrow. The 2-minute, 18-second advantage that Voigt now enjoys likely will be short-lived in the mountains, because the German is not an accomplished climber. If the Discovery riders are strong enough after today’s rest day in Grenoble, Armstrong could be back in yellow as early as tomorrow afternoon.

His beleaguered team could use the breather. Armstrong entered yesterday’s stage wondering if his teammates – who had been instrumental in bringing their leader the yellow jersey after a record-breaking time trial – had finally reached their breaking point. They were nowhere to be found on Saturday’s moderate climb through Germany and the Alsace region, leaving the Texan to defend attacks from top rivals alone. Andreas Kloden and Jan Ullrich – T-Mobile riders who finished second and fourth, respectively, in last year’s Tour – swarmed the American on the final climb, as did a third teammate, Alexandre Vinokourov, who is becoming perhaps the top contender for the American’s crown.

“Ullrich, Vinokourov, then Kloden,” Armstrong recounted. “Kloden, I thought, well, he has to go because there are just too many of them.”

Indeed, only Kloden, who was then in 24th place overall, managed to escape, and Saturday’s stage was won by Pieter Weening (Rabobank), a young Dutchman who represents no threat at all to Armstrong. The damage was mostly psychological. Armstrong cursed the vineyards of Alsace as he chased one pink jersey after another. Normally, he said, he loves riding through the vineyards. But this was predominantly white wine, he remembered, and he is no fan of white wine. He told reporters that he felt like a “stranger in a strange land” in Germany, home turf for both Kloden and Ullrich.

Later, Armstrong put his disappointment into perspective. “We definitely had a crisis with our team today on the final climb,” he said. “We’ll have to evaluate our position and try not to let that happen again. They’re hard workers and they’ll come back and be strong later. Certainly if it’s two more weeks of days like this, then we are in trouble.”

Sure enough, his riders showed up prepared yesterday. They controlled the pace of the peloton through much of the 171 kilometers from Gerardmer to Mulhouse, keeping all the contenders under wraps over six climbs.

“Today was better,” Armstrong concluded.

Rasmussen was gone after the first hill, taking off with Dario Cioni after just five kilometers. Cioni dropped off at about the half-way point, leaving the Dane to ride 80 kilometers alone to the finish, where he slumped over his handlebars, exhausted. He said he started the attack merely to pick up points for the polka-dot jersey awarded to the best climber, but soon realized that the effort would be enough to propel him to victory.

Rasmussen was chased by a small group that included Voigt and Moreau, who also left the peloton in their wake. Discovery Channel, riding in single file at the lead of the pack, seemed only concerned with minimizing, not eliminating, the chase group’s lead. As the Frenchman and the German approached the finish shoulder to shoulder, Voigt allowed his former teammate Moreau to cross in front of him, content to celebrate his first career yellow jersey.

He hardly basked in the spotlight.

“I’m a good rider, but I’m just not cut out for the high mountains,” he said. “The stage to Courcheval is in the high Alps and [CSC has] plenty of riders to take over and we’re going to be ready there, and I’ll be happy to do my job.

“Today was my very last chance to get this jersey and I’m looking forward to one of my teammates taking it from me.”

The most likely teammate to do so is Ivan Basso, who gave Armstrong a scare in the mountains last year and finished in third place overall. Although teammate Bobby Julich, 33, is 19 seconds ahead of the Italian in the overall standings, team director Bjarne Riis – a standout climber himself not so long ago – has made it clear that Julich’s job will be to support the 27-year-old Italian.

He will need all the help he can get. Tomorrow’s 192.5-kilometer trek to the summit of Courcheval includes two top-rated climbs. It will give fans the first real view of what kind of shape Armstrong, Basso, and Vinokourov are in, and a better guess at the chances for the American to win a seventh, and final, Tour de France victory.