Tour de France

Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France victories after admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his career.

The deal came as the two sides prepared for a trial that was scheduled to start May 7 in Washington. Armstrong's former US Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis filed the original lawsuit in 2010 and is eligible for up to 25 per cent of the settlement.

Adam Yates was a revelation at last year's Tour, winning the best young rider's classification and narrowly missing out on a podium place.

This year, the Australian team plan to send their emerging Colombian star Esteban Chaves to France to carry their general classification hopes, while the 24-year-old Yates twins gear up to ride two Grand Tours in the same season for the first time in their careers.

Organisers had debated whether the stage should be cancelled and officials observed a minute's silence before the first rider went down the ramp. There was another minute of silence at the podium ceremony after the stage.

Dutchman Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) clocked 50 minutes 15 seconds, beating Froome by 1:03.

The Briton, however, extended his overall race lead to 1:47 over Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), who moved up to second but lost 51 seconds to the Team Sky rider.