PAU, France -- Lance Armstrong retained his overall lead, but Spaniard Oscar Pereiro won the 16th stage of the Tour de France Tuesday, covering the 111-mile Pyrenees stretch from Merenx to Pau in four hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds.

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Pereiro (Phonak) beat a fellow Spaniard, Xabier Zandio (Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne), Italian Eddy Mazzoleni (Lampre-Caffita) and Australian Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) in a last-minute sprint after the four led a breakaway for much of the stage.

Armstrong trailed in a group with his main rivals, ending in 36th place, 3 minutes 24 seconds behind the leader. His overall lead over second-place Ivan Basso (Team CSC) is unchanged at 2 minutes, 46 seconds. Michael Rasmussen, of Denmark (Rabobank), trails by 3 minutes, 9 seconds.

Jan Ullrich, of Germany (T-Mobile), once thought to have been a serious threat to Armstrong's quest for seven straight tour victories, is in fourth, 5 minutes, 58 seconds behind the Texan.

In this final mountain stage, Armstrong's rivals knew their chances of catching the Texan were slipping away and they all tested him on the two main climbs. Armstrong matched their uphill accelerations and led them more than once, eventually cruising to the finish looking relaxed.

Armstrong's position now gives him 78 career yellow jerseys, equalling the number earned by Bernard Hinault.

Hinault, of France, won six non-consecutive tours in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as a string of other major tours and one-day classsics.

Armstrong said he had great respect for Hinault's accomplishments, and added that he wasn't keeping track of his own number of days in yellow.

"I don't know that I deserve to pass a guy like Hinault," Armstrong said.

Stage 16 Results

1 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 4.38.40
2 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne
3 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
5 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux
6 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
7 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Domina Vacanze
8 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
9 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
10 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone

General Classification

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 66.52.03
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 2.46
3 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 3.09
4 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5.58
5 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 6.31
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 7.35
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 9.29
8 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 9.33
9 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 9.38
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 11.47