Armstrong Staying the Course

ROUEN, France —  Estonian champion Jaan Kirsipuu said he began the Tour de France with slightly shaky legs.

Kirsipuu’s season was interrupted in March when he was knocked off his bike and injured his knee in a training accident. He was lucky it wasn’t worse. A car cut in front of him as he was flying downhill at close to 40 mph. He came back in May and has raced sparingly since.

The Tour is not an ideal comeback event, but Kirsipuu appears to have mended. He was part of a five-man breakaway that took off at the 68-mile mark of Thursday’s 121.1-mile stage and persevered to throw his wheel over the line first in this historic cathedral city.

The overall standings remained the same as the pack finished 33 seconds behind Kirsipuu and his closest pursuers. Once’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of Spain leads teammate Joseba Beloki by four seconds and defending champion Lance Armstrong by seven seconds.

U.S. Postal riders kept Armstrong near the front of the pack, out of harm’s way, and chased down early breakaways.

It was the third career Tour stage win for Kirsipuu, 32, who is 101st in the overall standings, 4 minutes 24 seconds off the lead. “This was an unaccustomed effort for me,” Kirsipuu said. “I’m just going day by day for now.

“This stage win is at least as important as the others, because it gives me confidence. I was able to pull it out at the very end. As a sprinter, I’m still not at my best. My strength is coming back.... When I finished seventh in Stage 3, and was among the best in the team time trial, I saw I could do better.”

In 1999, Kirsipuu was the only man other than Armstrong to wear the leader’s yellow jersey. Armstrong won the prologue time trial, ceded the lead to the Estonian in Stage 1 and took it back permanently six days later in a time trial ending in Metz.

Kirsipuu has been with AG2R-Prevoyance, the same second-tier French team for 10 years--an eternity in cycling. “There’s a good spirit on our team,” he said of the squad, among the last invited by Tour organizers. “I haven’t seen better conditions anywhere else.”

All 189 riders started Stage 5, but it would be the last time the pack was at full strength. Belgian Tom Steels, who has struggled with the lingering effects of mononucleosis, dropped out at the 56-mile mark. Then, 15.5 miles from the end of the stage, 20 riders went down in a classic early Tour pile-up caused by nothing more than an errant wheel on a windy day.

Italian Marco Pinotti of the Mapei team, who briefly lost consciousness, was taken to a local hospital for observation. He broke his nose and bled profusely, but initial scans showed no other fractures or neurological implications.

Several other riders were banged up, but all managed to finish.

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Tour de France

Highlights from the fifth stage of the Tour de France:

STAGE: A 121.1-mile course from Soissons to Rouen in Normandy.

WINNER: Estonia’s Jaan Kirsipuu, of the AG2R team, in 4 hours, 13 minutes, 33 seconds.

HOW OTHERS FARED: Spain’s Igor Gonzalez Galdeano, of Once, and three-time champion Lance Armstrong, of U.S. Postal Service, finished in a pack of 162 riders 33 seconds behind the winner. Gonzalez Galdeano retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Armstrong is third, seven seconds behind.

NEXT STAGE--A 123.69-mile stretch from Forges-les-Eaux to Alencon.