Shootings mar Tour de France

Colmar, France:

Lance Armstrong lost a teammate in his quest for an 8th Tour de France triumph with Levi Leipheimer's withdrawal but could have lost even more as two riders were shot during Friday's 13th stage.

New Zealand's Julian Dean and Spain's Oscar Freire, a three-time former world champion, were slightly injured in what their teams suspect was an air-rifle shooting while riding in northeast France. Armstrong finished the stage sheltered in the main pack and stayed in third place overall.

Freire and Dean, who are expected to start Saturday's stage, were hit during the descent of the demanding Col du Platzerwasel, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the finish of the stage between Vittel and Colmar. Police were investigating.

A projectile embedded in Freire's thigh was removed by a Rabobank team doctor. Dean's right index finger was injured, said Marya Pongrace, a spokeswoman for his Garmin-Slipstream team.

The stage was won by German rider Heinrich Haussler, who outclassed the pack with a solo breakaway on a rainy and cold day.

Armstrong remained 8 seconds behind race leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, who is not regarded as a potential Tour winner. Armstrong's Astana teammate and main rival Alberto Contador, the Tour winner in 2007, is second, 2 seconds ahead of Armstrong.

"I don't remember a day in the Tour that has been colder than that one," Armstrong told said. "I guess that tactically it was pretty uneventful, none of the others favorites attacked. Perhaps the Platzerwasel wasn't as hard as we expected."

Even without Leipheimer, who was fourth overall before his withdrawal with a broken wrist following a crash on Thursday, the Astana team was able to control the stage. It could be a far different story during Sunday's first Alpine stage, where the somnolent torpor among the favorites since the Pyrenees last week is likely to end.

"That one is almost a guarantee because it's uphill," Armstrong said by phone. "For sure it's a decisive stage and exciting for the fans. Very different than what we've seen since Andorra."

Astana rivals, who have been crushed by the team's supremacy so far, welcomed Leipheimer's withdrawal.

"They are one guy less, it gives some opening," said Hendrik Redant, sporting director of the Silence-Lotto team of two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans.

Leipheimer, a four-time top-10 finisher at the Tour, including a third-place finish in 2007, was a close ally to Armstrong in the Astana team. His absence could also harm the Texan's ambitions in his duel with Contador, who is regarded as the best climber in the world.

The Spaniard is likely to find support from his countrymen in his bid to win the three-week race a second time. He has been linked to a move to the Caisse D'Epargne team next season and helped Alejandro Valverde to win the Dauphine Libere earlier this year to gain sympathy within that team.

Valverde is not riding the Tour this year, and there is a strong possibility that his Caisse d'Epargne teammates could repay the favor by working for Contador in the gruelling last week of the Tour. The team's stand-in leader Luis Leon Sanchez is lagging 2 minutes, 16 seconds behind overall.

Armstrong, who was surprised by Contador's move to overtake him in the first Pyrenean stage, expects another fierce battle with the Spaniard in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier on Sunday.

"He is going to be good there," Armstrong said. "It's my intention to be up there too."

Contador said Sunday's ride isn't likely to separate the main title contenders, insisting the 8.80-kilometer (5.47-mile) uphill finish up to Verbier is too short to give contenders enough space to make large time gaps.

"This (Tour) layout isn't favorable to attacks," Contador said. "There should have been more uphill finishes ... I would have liked a different type of course."

Leipheimer had wrist surgery on Friday, and Astana said he would return to the United States as soon as possible to begin his recovery.

Both Freire and Dean were expected to start Saturday's mostly flat 14th stage, a 199-kilometer (124-mile) trek through plains from Colmar to Besancon.

Friday's stage winner Haussler, a 25-year-old Cervelo rider who won a stage at Paris-Nice in March, raced ahead of the second of two fellow breakaway riders in the last 50 kilometers (31 miles) and continued to build a gap on the peloton as the finish neared.

The German, who claimed his first stage victory on the Tour, crossed the line 4:11 ahead of second-place Amets Txurruka of Spain. Brice Feillu of France was third, 6:13 back.

"I just got teary," said Haussler, who was born in Australia to a German father. "I just couldn't believe it. ... I was just so nervous that I was going to crash. It's a really big win for me."