BESANCON, France — Lance Armstrong was unfazed about slipping to fourth place at the Tour de France. Instead, he was riled that his former lieutenant, George Hincapie, was deprived of the yellow jersey — allegedly by a rival U.S. team.

Hincapie, the only man to be a teammate of Armstrong on all seven of his Tour victories, came within 5 seconds of the race lead in the 14th stage won yesterday by Russia's Serguei Ivanov.

The ride was marred by the death of a 61-year-old woman spectator after she was hit by an escorting police motorcycle while she crossed the course route. Two other fans were injured.

Columbia team rider Hincapie finished the 124-mile stage from Colmar to Besancon in an 8-man group just 16 seconds after the Russian, who was 5 minutes, 36 seconds ahead of the main race contenders.

Starting the stage as the highest-placed rider in the breakaway group, 5:25 behind leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, Hincapie had a shot to take the lead.

Instead, as Armstrong and his Astana team claimed, the U.S. squad Garmin-Slipstream pressed the pace in a way that helped the Italian hold a slim lead over Hincapie.

Armstrong, on his Twitter feed, took aim at Garmin-Slipstream, which competes with Columbia for dibs as the top American squad at the Tour this year.

"No one wanted George in yellow more than me," he tweeted.

"Until 10km (6.2 miles) to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn't happen," Armstrong wrote.

"(Hincapie) deserves to be in yellow tonight. He deserves more than that."

French TV cameras showed Hincapie as he watched Nocentini's pack cross the finish line — and he harumphed in frustration.

"I don't know why you would do that with George at this stage of his career," Columbia manager Bob Stapleton said.