Armstrong Making Progress in Giro d'Italia

Lance Armstrong's preparation for the Tour de France is going so well that he's put aside his own ambitions to help a struggling teammate.

On a day when temperatures reached 100 degrees, Armstrong was riding with the race favorites up the final climb of the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia yesterday. That's when the Austin cycling great realized that fellow Astana rider Levi Leipheimer had dropped behind.

So the seven-time Tour winner slowed to escort Leipheimer to the finish 2 minutes, 51 seconds behind stage winner Carlos Sastre.

Nevertheless, Armstrong moved up from 13th to 12th overall, 11:06 behind overall leader Denis Menchov. The Texan is still regaining his form after 3½ years of retirement and then breaking his collarbone in March.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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