SAINT-LARY SOULAN, France, 18 July 2005 — Six-time champion Lance Armstrong continued to extend his lead in the 2005 Tour de France as his close friend and Discovery Channel teammate, George Hincapie, won yesterday’s grueling 15th stage in the Pyrenees Mountains.

As he did in Saturday’s stage, the 33-year-old Armstrong, who is riding in his last Tour, left all his rivals except Italian Ivan Basso behind on the final climb of the day.

Armstrong finished seventh, 5:04 minutes behind the winner, but more than 1:20 minutes in front of Mickael Rasmussen of Denmark and Germany’s Jan Ullrich.

He now leads Basso in the overall standings by 2:46 minutes, while Rasmussen dropped to third, 3:09 adrift, and Ullrich is 5:58 behind, in fourth. Because there are no more imposing mountain stages left in the Tour and Armstrong is a stronger time trial rider than Basso, barring injury or illness, it seems likely that the American will pocket his seventh consecutive title when the Tour ends on July 24 in Paris.

The 32-year-old Hincapie, who beat out Spaniard Oscar Pereiro Sio to the finish, raced the 205.5 kilometres from Lezat sur Leze to Saint-Alary, which included six arduous climbs in scorching temperatures, in 6 hr 06:38 min, an average speed of 33.63 kilometers per hour.

“This is a dream come true,” Hincapie said of his first-ever solo Tour stage win. “And my daughter was here to see it.”

Hincapie and Armstrong have been friends for 17 years, and the New York City native is the only rider to have been on Armstrong’s team for every one of his previous six titles.

“A perfect day,” Armstrong said of his friend’s win. “And a great day for the team.”

Hincapie was part of a 14-man group that broke away from the main pack at the 27-kilometer mark and built up a lead of over 18 minutes. The group gradually dwindled as the riders tackled the four climbs rated first category in difficulty, until Hincapie and Pereiro found themselves alone on the grueling ascent to the finish line, a climb of 10.3 kilometers rated beyond category, the highest difficulty. Hincapie was able to sprint away from the Spaniard in the last 200 meters to score a famous victory on the Tour’s most difficult stage.

“It wasn’t planned that way,” Hincapie said. “I wanted to break away to help Lance on the climbs. But when I saw how much of an advantage we had, I decided to go for it.”

Today is a rest day for the riders, before they tackle the last of three stages in the Pyrenees Mountains tomorrow.

Meantime, Armstrong compared his best friend and teammate Hincapie to five-times Tour de France champion Bernard Hinault after the American won the toughest stage of this year’s race yesterday. The New Yorker, who has lived in the shadow of Armstrong all his career, stole the limelight in the blazing sun of the Pyrenees at Pla-d’Adet.

The victory was all the more symbolic for the tall, soft-spoken 32-year-old as the last winner in the ski resort overlooking St Lary was his Discovery Channel team leader.

“He’s a special rider,” said Armstrong. “He was ahead in Paris-Roubaix, then he leads the bunch in the Galibier and now this.

“Have you ever seen someone like that? Maybe Bernard Hinault, who was also something else.”

“It’s perfect,” added the six-times Tour champion.

“He’s my best friend in the team, my best friend in cycling. A long-time friend I’ve known since the junior ranks. We were always in cycling together, and now he wins his first Tour stage, at the top of a mountain.

“It’s unbelievable.”

It was all the more incredible as Hincapie, unlike his boss, has been at his best all year.

In April he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, a small but prestigious Belgian classic. He finished a close second to Belgian Tom Boonen in the Queen of Classics, Paris-Roubaix, and in June’s Dauphine Libere he won two stages.