Lance Armstrong loses 15 seconds in opening mountain stage of Giro

Armstrong loses 15 seconds in mountains

SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA, Italy — Lance Armstrong looked weary, his face was drawn, and he was sweating profusely after losing 15 seconds in the first mountainous stage of the Giro d’Italia.

Yet the seven-time Tour de France champion was not upset. At 37, Armstrong is still regaining his form after 3½ years of retirement and a broken collarbone in March.

“I’m happy with my performance today. This was my first big climb since retiring,” he said. “I had a good feeling and no collarbone pain at all.”

Italy’s Danilo Di Luca won the fourth stage in an uphill sprint Tuesday and Sweden’s Thomas Lovkvist of Team Columbia-High Road took the overall leader’s pink jersey from Alessandro Petacchi.

Lovkvist holds a two-second lead over Di Luca in the overall standings, while Armstrong dropped from fifth to sixth overall, 28 seconds behind Lovkvist.

Armstrong lost contact with the leaders in the final mile and declined to speak with reporters in the finish area. He was not happy when his handlers could not immediately give him a cold drink.

“Come on, guys,” said the Texan, who was also slowed by a gear problem on his bike.

The stage ended with an 8.5-mile serpentine climb to San Martino, surrounded by jagged snow-covered peaks in the Dolomite range.

“Of course, it was not a very difficult climb,” Armstrong said in statement released later. “Tomorrow will be a better indication. It will be a long and hard day. We’ll see. I don’t know what to expect.”

Wednesday’s arduous mountain stage is from San Martino to Alpe di Siusi — again with an uphill finish. The race ends May 31 in Rome.

Di Luca, the 2007 Giro winner, dedicated the victory to his Abruzzo region. The area was hit by an earthquake early last month that killed nearly 300 people and drove some 50,000 from their homes.

“I wanted to win for my territory today,” said Di Luca, who twisted his body as he crossed the line to show the words printed on the side of his jersey — “Forza Abruzzo” or “Go Abruzzo.”

Di Luca, who rides for the LPR Brakes team, covered the 101-mile leg from Padua to San Martino di Castrozza in the Dolomite range in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 4 seconds.

He was followed by Stefano Garzelli and Franco Pellizotti — both in the same time as the winner — to give Italy a podium sweep.

Armstrong said before the race he would ride in support Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer. Leipheimer was sixth Tuesday with the same time as Di Luca; Armstrong was 32nd. The other race favorites finished in the lead pack.

“Lance looked really good all day,” said Astana team member Chris Horner, dismissing the amount of time Armstrong lost. “That’s really small.”

Leipheimer is fifth overall, 26 seconds behind Lovkvist. Overall race favorite Ivan Basso is 11th, 53 seconds back.

“Levi looks fantastic as always — real smooth,” Horner said. “I don’t think you’ll see a whole lot of action from our team until you get a little further into the race.”

Di Luca and the other top Italians want to take time from Armstrong before the two individual time trials later in the race.

“We’re trying to cut him out completely,” Di Luca said. “It’s tough, but we’re going to try again tomorrow. It’s going to be a very competitive Giro. This first week is very important for me, because the time trial doesn’t suit me.”

Petacchi, who also rides for LPR, won the past two stages in sprints. Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish wore the pink jersey after the first two stages.

“I had very good legs,” Lovkvist said. “We got the jersey back for the team again and we’re not going to give anything away.”