Laurent Roux, Eladio Jimenez and Toni Tauler were the early attackers this stage, and by the time the riders reached the first of three 'hors category' climbs, the "Madeleine", they were 13'35 ahead of a peloton of about 45 riders. The "Telekom" team of Jan Ullrich led this peloton, hoping to make it a tough race. On the second climb, the "Glandon", only one man was still up front, Roux, and he was 7 minutes before the peloton. In that peloton, Armstrong seemed to be in problems. Where usually he would climb in the front of the group, he was now in the back, and his facial expressions were also not that positive. Furthermore, only two riders from his team (Roberto Heras and Jose Luis Rubiera) were with him.