the final climb. Rasmussen took a 30" lead into the ascent but he was soon caught by a group of eleven, including Armstrong and Mayo. Having dropped Ullrich, Armstrong was quick to attack himself and the group pulled away from Ullrich. Sastre was still ahead of the group and with 3 km to the finish he was chased by Armstrong, who was accompanied by Ivan Basso. Armstrong caught and dropped Sastre and led Basso under the 1 km mark. In the final metres Basso put on a spurt, Armstrong did not respond, and Basso won the stage. Mayo came in 1'09" down, Ullrich 2'30", and Tyler Hamilton 3'27". Other riders staggered in over the next 100 minutes. Thomas Voeckler finished 3'59" behind but stayed in yellow (he has now spent longer in yellow than any Frenchman since 1992), Armstrong rose to second in the classement général. Stage 13 17 July 2004 — Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille, This was the second day in the Pyrenees. The 205.5 km stage had five major climbs, including the 15.9 km hors categorie climb to the finish at Plateau-de-Beille, the first such climb on the 2004 Tour. The other main climbs were the Col de Portet d'Aspet, the Col de la Core, the Col de Latrape, and the Col d'Agnes. The Col d'Agnes actually has a steeper gradient than the final climb (average 8.2% to average 7.8%) but is shorter at 9.8 km. Many mountains on this stage have been included before, notably the Col du Portet d'Aspet, this is its 51st inclusion since 1910 including the tragic occasion in 1995 when Fabio Casartelli crashed on the descent and later died. On another bright and hot day 165 riders started the stage. The usual early break, this time by fifteen riders, was quickly chased down by the US Postal team. Haimar Zubeldia was dropped early and abandoned the Tour, a short while later Denis Menchov abandoned and before the first climb Gerrit Glomser dropped out. Another smaller group quickly sprang away after the capture of the first break, and held a slim advantage for a few more kilometres before being swept up. Again there was another break, this time by Sylvain Chavanel and Jens Voigt. The pair broke away, and as the peloton slowed, built up a reasonable lead – heading the peloton by 3'06" over the first climb, with Michael Rasmussen caught in