With Americans Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis in his wheel, Vuelta winner Denis Menchov struck a blow to the trio's main rivals with victory at the summit finish of Stage 11 of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees on Thursday. Phonak's Landis took the yellow jersey from Frenchman Cyril Dessel.

Landis, the winner of Paris-Nice, now leads Dessel (AG2R) by eight seconds in the GC, while Rabobank's Menchov moved into third overall at 1'01" behind Landis.

The top three finishers pulled away from a lead group that included fellow GC contenders Christophe Moreau (AG24), Carols Sastre (CSC), Andreas Kl?den (T-Mobile), and Cadel Evans in the final assault on the 13-km-long Cat. 1 Pla-de-Beret climb.

Evans and Sastre finished fourth and fifth respectively, while Kl?den, isolated from his T-Mobile team-mates, dropped to ninth place 1'31" behind the eventual winners. France's Moreau finished tenth at 2'29" behind Menchov.

(eurosports.com via China Daily July 14, 2006)