Armstrong moves closer to title

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, France -- Lance Armstrong kept his overall lead and teammate George Hincapie won the 15th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, the hardest day of climbing in the Pyrenees.

The two friends beamed as they hugged each other after Armstrong finished more than five minutes behind his teammate. Armstrong gave a thumbs-up in reaction to the first stage win by one of his teammates since 1999.

"This is a dream for me," Hincapie said.

Armstrong, who finished seventh, called it a "perfect day."

"He is my biggest guy, my biggest friend on the team," the Texan said of Hincapie, the only teammate to be with Armstrong for all six of his Tour victories. They have known each other since they were teenagers.

Armstrong finished with Italian Ivan Basso, who jumped to second in the overall standings, but still trails the American by 2 minutes and 46 seconds. Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark fell back to third overall, now 3:09 behind Armstrong.

Jan Ullrich of Germany struggled on the final climb and now trails Armstrong by 5:58.

Hincapie was part of a group of riders that broke away from the main pack early in the sun-baked 127.7-mile stage from Lezat-sur-Leze to the ski station of Saint-Lary Soulan.

Hincapie and Oscar Pereiro fought for the victory alone on the final climb. The tall, genial New Yorker beat the Spaniard with a sprint finish, shaking his head in disbelief as he crossed the line high in the mountains.

Hincapie said he went with the breakaway group thinking that he would slow down later in the stage and wait for Armstrong to help him up the day's last two climbs.

But the breakaway group built up a lead of more than 18 minutes on Armstrong's following pack. At that point, Armstrong's team manager gave Hincapie the go-ahead to keep on riding, but this time for himself.

"I just started thinking about the win," Hincapie said. "For it to work out is just a dream come true."

The stage had a succession of five climbs before the final ascent up to the Pla d'Adet ski station above the Pyreneean town of Saint-Lary-Soulan.

The last time the Tour visited Pla d'Adet, in 2001, Armstrong won -- on the way to his third Tour title.

Armstrong's Tour teammates usually devote themselves to making sure that he wins -- and have few chances for glory of their own. His teammates only wins have been collective ones -- in team time trials that Armstrong's squad won for the third consecutive year this Tour.

Hincapie's time was 6 hours, 6 minutes and 38 seconds. Pereiro was 6 seconds back. Three other members of their breakaway group placed third, fourth and fifth.

Basso was sixth, followed by Armstrong. They both finished 5:04 behind Hincapie.

Ullrich was ninth, another 1 minute and 24 seconds back.