Armstrong tests cobblestones ahead of Tour

MEERBEKE, Belgium -- Lance Armstrong will pound his body this weekend over wet cobblestones and elbow for position along the windy, cold and narrow roads of the Tour of Flanders. Will riding in this race prepare him in any way for what is to hit him in this summer's Tour de France, when he goes for an eighth title? "Ask me after the cobbled stage in this year's tour," Armstrong tweeted before Thursday's scouting run along much of the Flanders course. The Tour de France hasn't chased riders over major stretches of cobblestones since 2004. But this year the third stage in northern France will include seven cobblestone sectors for eight miles, with one only six miles from the finish line. Cobblestones can puncture tires, break down bikes, wear down riders with relentless shaking and cause serious accidents and crashes. These dangers will all be there for the July 6 Wanze-Arenberg Porte du Hainaut stage. And even if the stage comes early in the three-week Tour de France, Armstrong does not want to take risks when he can avoid them. "You cannot win the Tour there, but you can very well lose it there," said Rik Vanwalleghem, the director of the Tour of Flanders Center who has followed cycling and cobblestone races for decades. Come ill prepared and a flat tire or a crash up front in the pack can leave a leader stranded. Seconds can turn into minutes on the choked back roads, time he might not be able to make up in the rest of the Tour. Such facts are not lost on Armstrong. He is meticulous in his preparations, and many credit some of his seven Tour de France titles to his advance work on the course and conditions. Which brings him to northern Belgium, where the cobblestones differ little from those in nearby Arenberg Porte du Hainaut. On Sunday, he will leave from under the Gothic spires of medieval Bruges on a 163-mile trek through the wind-swept flat lands of Flanders before hitting 15 short but steep climbs close to the finish in Meerbeke. Cobblestones are dotted through much of the late stages. At 38, Armstrong has distant memories of his two starts early in his career when his one-day career still looked as promising as his multistage one. This time, don't count him among challengers like Belgium's Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder, Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara or Spain's Juan Antonio Flecha. The true cobblestone classic to which the Tour de France stage pays homage is Paris-Roubaix. But with more than 30 miles of cobblestones, it is too much of a good thing. He will not start there next week. Vanwalleghem says such prep is good for Armstrong's team. Often the key in such a race is when teammates lead their top rider into prime position through the bottleneck at the start of a cobblestone stretch. There's also the question of dealing with emergencies. About half his eight-man team Sunday will probably start in the Tour de France. "It is as team mechanism that you have to practice," Vanwalleghem said. "It is not automatic. Tasks have to be assigned. If it doesn't happen and something happens like a flat tire, a crash, how do you fix that?" He also had a warning. "You cannot say the Tour of Flanders has no dangers. It is a race for warriors," Vanwalleghem told The Associated Press. "It means you have to stake your claim in the pack, with team members that protect you. Sometimes you really have to put your elbows to work. Every year there are crashes in such races." On Thursday, the practice run was an easy ride under the sun. That is the kind of weather he can expect Sunday, with winds sweeping in and temperatures not breaking 50. Hardly what Armstrong will find during the Tour.