Lance's final flourish hopes dashed

Lance Armstrong's bid for a fairytale finale ended in an anticlimax as Pierrick Fedrigo won the 16th stage of the Tour de France.

Once so dominant he won seven successive Tours between 1999 and 2005, Armstrong attempted to bow out with a final flourish on the 199.5-kilometre 16th stage from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau.

However, having been in the lead group for much of the day, the Team RadioShack leader, who was more than 40 minutes behind yellow jersey Alberto Contador at the start of the day, finished sixth as Fedrigo (Bbox Bougyues Telecom) won in a sprint finish from Sandy Casar (FDJ) and Ruben Plaza Molina (Caisse D'Epargne).

It was the sixth French stage win of the 97th Tour.

Carlos Barredo (QuickStep) - fined for fighting earlier in the Tour - attacked after 45km and ploughed ahead, but was caught with less than 2km to go as the day's racing ended in a sprint.

The day began with Contador (Astana) in possession of the maillot jaune with an eight-second lead over Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) after the Spaniard controversially took advantage of his rival's mechanical problem on Monday.

With a long descent to the finish in Pau, the duo chose not to attack on Tuesday. But while the race for the maillot jaune appears to be a duel between Contador and Schleck, Armstrong, who finished third in his comeback Tour in 2009 behind the same duo, had the personal ambition of taking a 26th stage win.

The 38-year-old American, who is riding in his 13th and final Tour and has worn the yellow jersey for 83 days, could not shake off his rivals and was beaten to the line in the sprint.

And with four days of racing remaining, he is unlikely to get another opportunity to stand atop the podium.

Wednesday is the final rest day at the Tour, with Thursday's 174km 17th stage from Pau to Col du Tourmalet set to be the last opportunity for Schleck to gain time on Contador ahead of Saturday's 52km time-trial - the Spaniard is the more adept rider against the clock.