Muret (France): For the first time since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on Thursday rode a stage of the famous race for charity.


Lance Armstrong takes a break while riding a Tour de France stage for a leukaemia charity in southwest France yesterday. Pic/AFP 

Armstrong was riding a 198-kilometre (123-mile) stage of the race a day ahead of the competing riders for a leukaemia charity but cycling officials have branded the exercise "disrespectful."