Lance Armstrong held off late attacks by his closest rivals to became the first American to win the Midi Libre, a traditional Tour de France warm-up, on Sunday.

Armstrong finished fourth in Sunday’s 172-kilometer mountainous stage in the C´vennes, which was won by the second-year pro Laurent Paumier, of the Division 2 St. Quentin-Oktos team. Armstrong credited his U.S. Postal service team for defending his small overall lead on a stage that saw attacks by many of his most immediate challengers. A dangerous break started by Frenchmen Christophe Moreau of Crédit Agricole and David Monciutié of Cofidis with 80km to go gained 1:08 with 30km left, but Armstrong's team took up the chase and reeled in the two escapees with 22km and one climb remaining. With just 10km to go ONCE’s Jörg Jaksche launched a strong that was countered only by Paumier. Paumier, not a GC threat, went on to win the stage, the first professional victory of his career.

In the closing kilometers, Igor Gonzales de Galdeano and José Azevedo both made late bids for the overall title. In the sprint for second, Moreau just took it from Golnzales de Galdeano, with Armstrong in fourth. "I'm not 100-percent yet and my time trial (yesterday) was not perfect," Armstrong later said. "But I'm delighted with my teammates; they controlled the race without ever panicking."

Gonzalez de Galdeano was second overall nine seconds behind and Azevedo was third, at 45 seconds back.

Copyright AFP2002

1. Laurent Paumier (Fra), at Oktos/Saint-Quentin), 4:37:14
2. Christophe Moreau (Fra), at 0:27sec,
3. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa), at same time,
4. Lance Armstrong (USA)
5. Laurent Lefevre (Fra)
6. Andre Kivilev (Kaz)
7. Denis Menchov (Rus)
8. Marcos Serrano (Spa), all s.t.
9. Jose Azevedo (Por), at 27,
10. Nicolas Fritsch (Fra), at 0:32,
11. Jorg Jaksche (Ger), at 1:05
12. Marzio Bruzeghin (Ita), at 1:05
13. Unai Osa (Spa), at 1:05,
14. Serguei Ivanov (Rus), at 1:05,
15. Unai Etxebarria (Ven), at 1:05
 
 Final overall standings1. Lance Armstrong (USA), 19:22:36
2. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa), at at 9sec,
3. Jose Azevedo (Por), at 45,
4. Christophe Moreau (Fra), at 54,
5. Marcos Serrano (Spa), at 1:02sec,
6. Jorg Jaksche (Ger), at 1:27,
7. Laurent Lefevre (Fra), at 1:28,
8. Andrei Kivilev (Kaz), at 1:30,
9. David Moncoutie (Fra), at 1:46,
10. Serguei Ivanov (Rus), at 1:48,
11. Denis Menchov (Rus), at 1:49,
12. Unai Etchebarria (Ven), at 2:00,
13. Laurent Paumier (Fra), at 2:04,
14. Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), at 2:58,
15. Laurent Brochard (Fra), at 3:00,
16. Richard Virenque (Fra), at 3:23.