Armstrong escapes mishap without too much damage

AVRANCHES, France -- A crash in the seventh stage of the Tour de France left Lance Armstrong and his bid for a fourth straight title unscathed.

Armstrong crashed about a mile before the finish, losing his place in the main pack and falling 27 seconds behind the day's leaders.

Armstrong slipped from third to eighth in the standings, 34 seconds behind Spain's Igor Gonzalez Galdeano, who retained the yellow jersey of overall leader.

"I didn't fall off the bike. I just had to put my foot down," Armstrong told Jogi Muller, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service team. "I'm fine."

The handlebars of USPS team member Roberto Heras got tangled in Armstrong's rear wheel. The 30-year-old Armstrong shrugged off the accident.

"I'm just going to have to ride faster in the time trial on Monday," Armstrong told Muller.

It doesn't seem likely that the mishap will seriously hurt Armstrong's chances of taking the title. He won last year's race by more than 6 1/2 minutes and is expected to make up time in the mountain stages, which start next week.

The stage win was the first for McGee in the Tour and the first for his fdjeux.com team in five years.

McGee coverted the 109-mile stretch through the northern Normandy region in 4 hours, 10 minutes and 56 seconds.

Armstrong's crash also involved Frenchman Laurent Jalabert. Heras and U.S. Postal teammate George Hincapie sustained "a few scratches," Muller said.

"No matter what you try, it's still a hard race and there are going to be crashes," Muller said. "For five, six and seven hours you're elbow to elbow, fighting for position. In the flat stages -- as we've seen -- there are crashes on the left, right and center."