Figeac, France ? Lance Armstrong finished ninth in Thursday’s stage of the Tour de France and accused French reporters of trying to rummage through his hotel room in hopes of finding evidence of doping.

Frenchman David Moncoutie won the 11th stage. Countryman Thomas Voeckler kept the overall leader’s yellow jersey, still 9 minutes, 35 seconds ahead of the sixth-placed Armstrong.

Armstrong, bidding for a record sixth straight Tour de France title, said a TV crew from France 3 attempted to get access to his room after he left to race in the 102-mile stage from Saint-Flour to Figeac in central France.

Armstrong insists he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs but is worried he might be framed.

“They show up and they ask sporting questions to our face, but as soon as they leave they’re digging in the rooms and looking for dirt,” he said. “If you left a B vitamin sitting there, that would get on TV.”

The Texan said one reporter has been following the team for months. The France 3 investigative reporter in question, Hugues Huet, confirmed he went to the hotel to talk to Armstrong aides about his teammates and chatted to the hotel manager for a few minutes. But he denied he sought access to the champion’s room.

“It’s completely ridiculous,” Huet said. “We do have ethics, and we don’t do just anything. … If I played around by searching his room like that, I would be breaking the limits.”

Armstrong aides suggest that French reporters do not want an American to win the Tour for a record sixth time. The Texan often has had testy relations with French media.

The French newspaper Le Monde, which has previously leveled doping accusations at Armstrong, on Thursday ran an interview with three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond, who suggested he doubts his fellow American is drug free.

“Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret,” LeMond said. “I don’t know how he can continue to convince everybody of his innocence.”

Moncoutie captured his first stage victory in five Tours by breaking away from the pack with two other riders and then leaving them in his wake as he rode alone over the last few miles to the line.

He was the second French rider to win in two days. Richard Virenque won the 10th stage on Wednesday — France’s Bastille Day national holiday. Another French rider, Jean-Patrick Nazon, also won a stage in the first week.

“To win a Tour stage is fabulous,” said Moncoutie, who comes from the region crossed by Thursday’s route. “It was one of my dreams.”

Armstrong was in a group that finished 5:58 behind Moncoutie’s mark of 3 hours, 54 minutes, 58 seconds. That group also included Armstrong rivals Jan Ullrich, Iban Mayo, Tyler Hamilton and Ivan Basso.

Armstrong and other top favorites saving themselves for the punishing and probably decisive stages in the Pyrenees and Alps did not chase Moncoutie, letting him surge ahead.

Voeckler is expected to lose the lead to the Tour’s top riders in the mountain stages, with the first Pyrenean stage today.