Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong said Tuesday’s radio-silenced stage was the slowest he could remember after more than a decade of the competition.

The 37-year-old breezed past reporters after Britain’s Mark Cavendish won his third stage of this year’s Tour when he claimed the 10th stage and his seventh in three participation.

Italian cyclist Rinaldo Nocentini retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey, but third-placed Armstrong, who is eight seconds behind the leader, said it had been the slowest day’s racing he could remember.

“Stage 10 done, probably one of the more relaxed days I have experienced in ten plus Tours,” said cancer-survivor Armstrong, who is back after his four year hiatus, on his Twitter page.

“Things got rolling at the end and we (his Astana team) were going.

“My legs feel good.”

This was the first stage in years to be held entirely without the radio communication, as will Friday’s 13th stage from Vittel to Colmar, after Tour organizers insisted on a radio ban.

A petition, signed by 14 of the Tour’s 20 teams, was submitted to the race organizers last Saturday, but the race went ahead without the use of radios.

Photo by: CorVos Pro