“I have to be careful that I, myself, don’t have a bad day,” Landis said after today’s stage. “Things can change quickly.”

Image Floyd Landis won the Tour de France title after a remarkable comeback. Credit... Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

Landis’s lead might have been slightly larger if he had finished third today, a position that would have given him a time bonus of 8 seconds. But he was outsprinted at the finish by Stefano Garzelli, an Italian rider for the Liquigas squad.

It appeared that Landis started his final sprint nearly 500 meters from the finish line, a distance over which it is difficult to sustain maximum speed — particularly after a climb like l’Alpe d’Huez. Now Landis is in a position he said on Monday that he did not want — in the lead. His Phonak team will now be charged with riding at the front of the pack over the next two days, trying to make sure that no riders who are a threat to Landis in the overall standing are able to escape in a breakaway.

Landis said he was confident enough in his team that he could ride conservatively over the next two days, leaving it to his rivals to try to attack and leave him behind.

“I don’t feel the need win either of those stages,” he said of the next two days. “I’d like to win a stage, but I want to save my team,” as well as some of his own energy for the final time trial on Saturday, a day before the Tour ends.

Landis’s teammate, Axel Merckx, helped him early today by jumping into a breakaway group that gained 2 to 3 minutes over the main pack as they crossed each of the stage’s first two climbs, the Col d’Izoard and the Col du Lautaret. That allowed Landis to get reports on the group’s status over the team’s radio, thus keeping an eye on the escapees.