Armstrong heckled at end of fourth stage

Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong was happy to finally get a crash-free stage under his belt as the Tour de France headed gradually towards the Alps yesterday. However the 38-year-old American cut his media duties short at the RadioShack team bus moments after an unidentified heckler started shouting insults at the American.

In May at the Tour of Luxembourg, Armstrong confronted a heckler who levelled insults which suggested the American was a drugs cheat.

And on Wednesday an unidentified man again shouted "cheat" and "dopehead" several times before Armstrong departed. Before then the American admitted he was happy to have an almost normal stage on the bike. "I didn't want to have a third day in a row of bad luck, so ... (it's) nice that everybody stayed up (on their bikes)," said Armstrong, who sits in 18th place overall.

at 2min 30sec behind race leader Fabian Cancellara and 1:51 behind the best-placed favourite, Australian Cadel Evans.