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Armstrong Takes Lead in Tour de France
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:30 p.m. ET

BLOIS, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel squad won the team time trial at the Tour de France on Tuesday, handing the six-time champion the yellow jersey as overall race leader.

The 33-year-old Texan led his squad to victory for the third straight year in the time trial, clocking 1 hour, 10 minutes, 39 seconds for the 41.85-mile trek from Tours to Blois. Team CSC was second.

''It's always nice to be in yellow,'' Armstrong said. ''There are three or four flat stages coming, so it will not be easy to defend the jersey.''

Team CSC was runner-up, finishing a mere 2 seconds behind. American rider David Zabriskie of CSC, who had come into the stage in the leader's yellow jersey, fell less than a mile before the finish.

Zabriskie got back onto his bicycle, his uniform torn and left thigh scraped, and coasted across the finish line. He now trails Armstrong by 1:26 and fell to ninth overall.

Armstrong will wear the yellow jersey for the 66th time in his Tour career. His teammate, George Hincapie, is second overall, 55 seconds behind.

Under overcast skies, the nine-man teams set off one-by-one through the Loire River valley, known for its majestic medieval and Renaissance castles, and through the town of Ambroise where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life.

The Discovery teammates took turns leading the single-file pack of riders.

''It was a very tight matchup as we expected. We kept a good rhythm,'' Discovery team director Johan Bruyneel said. ''We stayed together. It was a beautiful machine operating.''

The riders will now embark on three relatively flat stages toward Germany, where the race heads Friday, starting with a 113-mile ride from the Chambord castle to the industrial town of Montargis on Wednesday.

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