INQUIRER Sports

ANNECY, FRANCE — LANCE ARMSTRONG finds himself in unfamiliar territory at this Tour de France—fighting just to remain among the top three riders.

Accustomed to dominating his way to victory, the seven-time winner had to settle for a 16th-place finish in Thursday’s time trial and a tenuous grip on third place.

The 37-year-old American battled fatigue in the 18th stage, a 40.5-kilometer (25-mile) race against the clock around bucolic Lake Annecy that Alberto Contador won in 48 minutes, 31 seconds to close in on the overall victory.

Armstrong was 1:30 behind, but he entered the day in fourth and easily overcame a 30-second deficit to Frank Schleck. The Saxo Bank rider finished 2:34 behind Contador to slip from third to sixth overall, but is only 34 seconds behind Armstrong.

After Thursday’s stage, Armstrong said he had “mixed emotions. Sixteenth in a time trial is not a good result, but my ambition is to get on the podium, so I have to be happy with that.”

During his reign as Tour champion, Armstrong never finished lower than third in a time trial, except once, when he placed seventh in one in 2003. This year, in the Stage 1 time trial in Monaco, he was 10th.

Armstrong is admittedly not at his best this year, and is already holding out hope for a better performance in 2010. He announced on Thursday that he is forming a new team that will be sponsored by Texas-based electronics vendor Radio Shack. His current team, Astana, has had financial woes, and he’s had testy ties with its Kazakh owners.

Armstrong’s adequate ride on Thursday kept his hopes alive for a podium spot, though he will have to hold off Schleck, a top climber who is sure to challenge the American on Saturday during the uphill finish of the Tour’s next-to-last stage.

Schleck and his younger brother Andy had bumped Armstrong from second place to fourth a day earlier in the last punishing Alpine stage, proving they’ll be a force to reckon with in Stage 20.

“I suffered,” Armstrong said of the time trial.

Andy Schleck retained second place by finishing 21st—1:45 behind Contador and only 15 seconds slower that Armstrong, who trails by 1:14 in the race for second overall.

Contador, the 2007 Tour champion, is looking more like the Armstrong of yesteryear as he proved he can seemingly dominate at will in both time trials and in the mountains.