GAP, France - It's just a bicycle race, right?

That's what you say to yourself. It's a bunch of guys in colorful spandex pedaling their bikes across the countryside - a long way across the countryside, no doubt - but not that much different from getting the Schwinn out of the garage, testing the tires, and going around the block a few times. Riding bicycles, after all, is not a real sport.

Well, try this.

The Tour de France Monday described a backward C in the Alps from Bourg d'Oisans to Gap, a 115-mile stage that took its riders over two huge climbs and then a series of testy hills before the road dropped into the little town at the finish line.

By the final descents, the air temperature was 95 degrees and the road temperature had risen to 126 degrees. This is fine for sitting in the shade of a sidewalk cafe and contemplating the world through the bottom of a wine glass, but it can be terrible for racing bikes.

"The asphalt was bubbling," said Lance Armstrong, who is leading this race, trying to win it for the fifth straight time, and finds himself in what might be the battle of his life, sporting division.

It is a strange race because many of the men who were supposed to challenge Armstrong have drifted away, and some of those not expected to still be around are making plenty of trouble. But Armstrong doesn't ask for favors, and he may have never felt more alive than Monday as he blasted down the backside of Cote de la Rochette, the last hill of the day, tire for tire with Joseba Beloki of Spain.

Armstrong, who was wearing the yellow jersey of the race leader in this, the ninth stage of the 20-stage race, and Beloki, who was in second place, were trying to chase down a Kazak climber named Alexandre Vinokourov, who was madly churning ahead of both of them and needed to be kept in sight.

On top of that, Armstrong and Beloki were playing their own game of chicken, eyeing each other to see whether there would be any blinking. Beloki finished on the second step of the podium in the Tour last year, third the previous two years, and his critics have accused him of riding too conservatively. He vowed that would not be the case this year.

Armstrong, for his part, hasn't yet shown the invincibility that made his previous wins seem like coronations. There are whispers in the peloton that he is not as strong this year, that he is sick or still suffering from a crash in a tune-up race.

All that was in play on the bubbling tar roads as Armstrong and Beloki went down the hill about 50 m.p.h. headed for a switchback turn that went sharply right and then quickly left.

"He and I were the only ones doing the work to bring back Vinokourov," Armstrong said. "We were all trying to descend fast for the overall [lead], taking the corners fast. Unfortunately, that one came in too fast. It was so hot, the road was melting. Beloki came into that corner too fast and he braked too hard."

About 10 riders were in the group coming down that hill, all riding the tail of the comet lit by Armstrong and Beloki, but no one was closer than Armstrong when Beloki hit the rear brake, locked up his wheel, and the pavement gave way beneath him. He fishtailed left, right and left again before going down at that awful speed, smashing down on his right side, breaking a wrist and an elbow and a leg.

Armstrong - in what, the time between silence and an alarm bell? - had to react. Is this a sport? Is he an athlete? Well, what happened next beat the hell out of Pete Weber going for the seven-ten split.

"You can't train for that. The first thing you do is say, `Where am I going to go?' " Armstrong said. "The first thing I thought was that I couldn't lose any time here, I had to stay with the group."

His options were limited. He couldn't turn right and stay with the course or he would suffer what happened to Beloki. He couldn't keep going straight or he would run over the Spaniard. So, Armstrong took another route, going slightly left, a move that took him off the road, through a little field, then back onto the course when the switchback curved around again. In effect, he cut a corner on the course, although he had to dismount and hop down to make it to the lower road and keep up with his buddies. At 50 m.p.h., he started this cyclo-cross maneuver.

"I was lucky the field was there. Normally, it could be full of crops or it could be a drop-off. I was even lucky there was a little path there that ended up in the field. I made it halfway across and had to keep going," Armstrong said. "My first thought was that I'd have to stop and turn around, come back out of the field, then I looked and thought that maybe I'd just go through the field. It'll come back around."

And that's what he did, in a move the race commissioners approved because he was avoiding a crash and didn't gain any advantage on his group. In fact, he rejoined the group in progress, with former teammate Tyler Hamilton giving him a pat on the butt, congratulating the boss of the race for dodging a bullet that could have ended it.

Hamilton, who rides now for another team, has his own little story going. He's been racing with a broken collarbone since a crash at the close of the first stage. Monday, he finished the third of three straight brutal climbing stages in the Alps and is less than two minutes behind Armstrong. In fact, six challengers are within 2 minutes, 25 seconds of the leader. It's a great race, even without Beloki.

"I would rather have everybody in the race," Armstrong said. "You don't want to lose one of your main competitors to a crash. There are ways of eliminating people. That's not the way to go about it."

He plans to eliminate them all one by one in the final 11 stages of the race. Along the way, there will be other moments and other tests, of course. But no big deal. Just like taking the Schwinn around the block - and then riding it down the side of One Liberty Place.