CUNEO: Lance Armstrong was apologetic and avoided launching into a verbal war with race organizers following the protest that marred the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia.

"It's an unfortunate situation, an accumulation of days and days of frustration and I think fear on a lot of people's parts and then this war of words and this war of power afterwards that we have to avoid," Armstrong said in a video message posted late Monday, the Giro's first rest day.

Armstrong played an integral role in a group protest that ended up annulling times in Sunday's stage because riders considered the city circuit through downtown Milan overly dangerous.