Lance charges back in Tour

LA GRANDE-MOTTE, France – When Lance Armstrong spoke in March about his teammate and leading rival Alberto Contador lacking experience, the veteran American was accused of being unsportsmanlike.

Maybe he was right.

The 37-year-old Texan showed that age wasn’t everything when he surged to the front in the key breakaway during Monday’s third stage of the Tour de France while Contador and the other favorites were trapped in the peloton.

Armstrong’s astute move earned him valuable time and he moved to third place overall while Contador dropped to fourth, 19 seconds behind him.

Armstrong now has a small chance to take the yellow leader’s jersey from Fabian Cancellara as early as Tuesday’s 39-kilometer (24.23-mile) team time trial at Montpellier.

“Never say never,” Armstrong said when asked about the possibility of putting on the coveted jersey for the 84th time in his career, four years after his record seventh Tour victory.

Overall, he trails Cancellara by 40 seconds – a tough deficit to erase in the team time trial.

The most likely scenario is that Cancellara will keep his first place after the team ride.

Among other Tour favorites, two-time runner up Cadel Evans slipped to 8th place overall, 1 minute, 4 seconds behind Cancellara. Andy Schleck is 24th at 1:41, and defending champion Carlos Sastre of Spain is 26th, 1:47 back.

Armstrong is not in a hurry in this race. He has already said the third week, featuring a long time trial, three mountain stages, and a finish up the daunting Mont Ventoux, will be very hard.

The cancer survivor has got plenty of time to move up to first place and can ride with serenity now that he leads Contador, who had a 22 second-cushion over Armstrong before Monday’s epic stage won by king of sprint Mark Cavendish. (AP)