Tour’s 13th stage under way in southern France

The Spaniard has become a savvier rider with age. “Sometimes, when you change the rhythm, it can produce a surprise”.

After Stage 11 finished with Froome still comfortably leading, Sky manager Dave Brailsford said analysis of such data “should be left to the experts”.

Armstrong said: “I know what that is like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of the Tour, to deal with the constant questions, which of course he is, and to be fair and to be honest, a lot of that is my fault“.

Armstrong will be at the start of a ride from Muret to Rodez on Thursday while the actual Tour peloton will be in the mountains on the 12th stage going up to the Plateau de Beille.

Armstrong makes no apology for his comments on Twitter.

“What he did wasn’t very nice and even if we shouldn’t forget that, his presence for this charitable act is a good thing”, said another resident of the village, Jacques Pylyp, 53.

Armstrong overcame testicular cancer to win the Tour seven straight times between 1999 and 2005.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong prepares to take part in Geoff Thomas’s “One Day Ahead” charity event at the 102nd Tour de France cycling race on Thursday. The British rider says he is clean, and he has never tested positive for doping.

A Sky spokesman said by e-mail: “Our zero tolerance policy is well-known and well-established – nowhere more so than within our own staff who have all been interviewed extensively about their careers before joining the team”. The Katusha team leader also won a shorter uphill finish on Stage 3.

CAUTERETS (France) • Lance Armstrong has said that he “feels bad” that Chris Froome is having to answer questions surrounding doping during the Tour de France – 24 hours after he posted seemingly ambiguous tweets when asked if he thought the race leader and his team were clean.

A large and high-pedigree breakaway was allowed was allowed to go clear, but it broke apart on the day’s third climb and Rodriguez ultimately emerged as the strongest after dropping the dogged Fuglsang and then catching passing the then leader on the road, Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx – Quick-Step), on the final climb. It was Majka’s third Tour stage win after a pair of successes in the mountains past year as he won the polkadot jersey for the race’s best climber.

Sticky heat bothered the pack as it set off from Lannemezan on Thursday morning.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the likes of Dan Martin, Thibault Pinot or Romain Bardet decided it could be the jersey for them now their dreams of yellow have faded. This might just be the most difficult day in the Pyrenees for the peloton: a brutal stage with four draining climbs in succession awaits, acting as vast hurdles before the finish at Plateau du Beille.

“I understand there are still some hurt feelings and that’s a process I’ll walk through for a long, long time”.