Armstrong & Wiggins battle for second

Mikel Astarloza of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team won Stage 16 of the Tour de France, a 159km between Martigny and Bourg-Saint-Maurice that saw two Category 1 climbs of more than 1,500m.

The race for the maillot jaune was unchanged, with Alberto Contador holding on to his one minute 37 second lead over teammate Lance Armstrong, but for part of the race the 37-year-old Texan was overhauled in second overall by Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain.

Armstrong was dropped by a group containing Contador and Wiggins on the way to the second summit of the stage, but fought his way back to the group, ensuring that all three ended yesterday's race on the same time.

Today's leg from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand conatins four Category 1 ascents, and is the last major climb before Saturday's  1,700m climb up Mont Ventoux.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Richard Williams, the Guardian: "The seven-times winner may have been outclimbed by Contador and others in the opening Monaco time trial and the mountain-top finishes at Arcalis and Verbier, but now was the time for a reminder of how he turned himself from a barrel-chested former triathlete into the world's most feared uphill racer. Suddenly he was out of the saddle, spinning the pedals in that high cadence familiar from triumphs labelled with the names Hautacam, Alpe d'Huez and Plateau de Beille. Astonishingly, the years fell away as he shot up the gradient. You almost expected to see the magenta jersey of Jan Ullrich up ahead, being pulled back less by the effect of gravity than by the sheer force of Armstrong's will."

Brendan Gallagher, Daily Telegraph: "When the pressure came, Wiggins even attacked hard on the closing, slightly flatter, stages of the final climb of the day - the 2,188-metre Col du Petit Saint-Bernard - and the impetus he provided saw Lance Armstrong fall 40 seconds off the back of the group. Armstrong, however, dug deep and, showing all of the old anger and aggression of his halcyon years, got up on his pedals and sprinted across the gap with an astonishing display of speed. It was vintage Armstrong and suggests that perhaps Contador, whose ability to up the cadence and race away in the high mountains, might not have it all his own way this afternoon."

Jeremy Whittle, the Times: "Wiggins held fast on the vertiginous climbs to the Grand-Saint-Bernard pass and Petit-Saint-Bernard summit, before plummeting to the valley floors, alongside Alberto Contador, the overall race leader, and the rest of the Spaniard’s close rivals. But the breakneck descents from the summits of the Savoyard Alps took their toll as Jens Voigt, of Germany, crashed out of the race at high speed after his back wheel slid from under him. The 37-year-old, of the Saxo Bank team, is a former wearer of the yellow jersey, and early indications are that he is suffering from concussion and severe abrasions." ·