Lance Armstrong surrendered the overall lead in the Tour de France on Sunday to Jens Voigt of Germany, shedding the pressure of being in front as the race prepared to scale the Alps.
Danish racer Mickael Rasmussen won the ninth stage with a gutsy solo ride. Sunday's 171km route from Gerardmer to Mulhouse in eastern France took the riders over six climbs -- and Rasmussen was first over them all.
Voigt crossed the finish line 3 minutes, 4 seconds later, just behind French rider Christophe Moreau and good enough to take the overall race lead off Armstrong, who had worn the leader's yellow jersey for five days.
The six-time Tour champion finished in 28th place, crossing the line comfortably in a pack with his main rivals three minutes behind Voigt and Moreau.
Armstrong does not regard Team CSC's Voigt as a main contender in the Tour.
"Voigt is not their guy for the high mountains," Armstrong said.
Letting the German take the yellow jersey allowed Armstrong to head into the Alps, which start on Tuesday after a rest day on Monday, without the pressure of having to defend the lead.
But the American, who is trying to win the race for the seventh straight year, will be looking to take the jersey back before the finish in Paris on July 24, when he plans to retire.
"We don't need the yellow jersey, we don't need to keep it in the Alps, we need to have it at the end," Armstrong said at the start of the stage.
After the race, he added: "I felt like today might be the day when the jersey would be given away and it turned out it was."
The good news for Armstrong was that his teammates rode strongly -- recovering from a disappointing ride Saturday when all eight of them abandoned him in the final climb, unable to keep up with the quick uphill pace. That left Armstrong alone to fend off his rivals' attacks.
"We were better," Armstrong said. "That's good going into the rest day: regroup and get ready for the big climbs."
Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad did not chase when Rasmussen sprinted off on the day's first climb, building up a lead that he never gave up.
Nor did Discovery seek to prevent Voigt from taking the overall lead, although the team still pedaled hard to make sure that he did not get too far ahead -- and to show that it remains strong after the disappointment of the previous day.
"Today was my very last chance to take the jersey," Voigt said.
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