Pierrick Fedrigo of France accelerated past a lone rival in a breakaway to win yesterday's ninth stage of the Tour de France as the race left the Pyrenees.

Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy retained the yellow jersey for a third consecutive day, with 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador in second and his Astana teammate Lance Armstrong in third place overall.

Two-man battle

Fedrigo, a 30-year-old rider who won a Tour stage in 2006, came out on top of a two-man battle with Italy's Franco Pellizotti in the 160.5-kilometre (99.7-mile) trek from Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes.

"It's pure happiness," Fedrigo said after speeding out ahead of Pellizotti following the final turn in Tarbes. "I knew I needed to go all out, and that's what I did."

He and Pellizotti clocked 4 hours, 5 minutes, 31 seconds. The peloton trailed 34 seconds behind. The stage took riders up two hard climbs, including the Tourmalet pass, and through the Roman Catholic shrine town of Lourdes.

Quick start

The pack got off to a quick start in the flats before the Aspin and Tourmalet passes. After 24 kilometres (14.9 miles), Armstrong bolted out ahead in a bid to catch breakaway riders - though he was caught by the peloton very quickly afterward.

"Today was pretty controlled, I thought - although it's never easy," Armstrong said. "It was very hot, the tempo was pretty regular."

"We (Astana) just sat there and kinda rode our race," he said.

Pellizotti and Fedrigo had surged clear with a bunch of breakaway riders before the 20 kilometre (12 mile) mark, and kept the lead for most of the stage.

They crossed the Tourmalet Pass more than five minutes ahead of the peloton. They held on despite there being 70 kilometers (42 miles) remaining between the peak and the finish.