LA PLAGNE, France -- Lance Armstrong placed third in the 16th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, extending his overall lead in his bid for a fourth straight title.
Armstrong finished 1 minute, 25 seconds behind stage-winner Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands in the 111-mile leg marked by difficult climbs.
Stage 16 -- At a glance
Stage
A 111.29-mile stretch from Les Deux-Alpes to La Plagne, featuring three exceptionally difficult climbs. It was the toughest stage of the Tour.
Winner
Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands, in 5 hours, 48 minutes and 29 seconds.
How others fared
Three-time champion Lance Armstrong retained the yellow jersey of overall leader despite finishing the stage in third place, 1:25 behind Boogerd. Armstrong's lead over his nearest rival, Spain's Joseba Beloki, grew from 4:21 to 5:06.
Quote of the day
"I was only suffering and fighting to make the stage.''
-- Boogerd, explaining why he wasn't thinking about the possibility of being overtaken by Armstrong in the final stretch.
Next Stage
An 88.04-mile stretch from Aime to Cluses, featuring four tough climbs. It is the last mountain stage of the Tour.
But the 30-year-old Texan finished ahead of his nearest challenger, Spain's Joseba Beloki, and pushed his overall lead from 4 minutes, 21 seconds to about 5 minutes.
"It was really a difficult stage,'' Armstrong said. "La Plagne is a tough mountain pass.''
Barring illness or injury, or a spectacular loss of form in Thursday's last mountain stage, Armstrong is almost certain to retain the yellow jersey of overall leader until the finish in Paris on Sunday.
Armstrong won last year's Tour with a 6:44 lead over second-placed Jan Ullrich of Germany.
Wednesday's stage through the Alps included three exceptionally difficult climbs and was the toughest of the three-week Tour. Thursday's leg from Aime to Cluses is the last in the mountains, where the Tour title is usually decided.
"It's a complicated day,'' Armstrong said of the final mountain stage. "It's never flat. It's the same stage as two years ago when I cracked at Joux-Plane.''
Armstrong was referring to his only weak moment in the 2000 Tour, when he suddenly tired in the final mountain stage and lost nearly 2 minutes from his overall lead.
Armstrong never tired during last year's Tour, suggesting he has learned to maintain his form throughout the competition. He is also favored to win Saturday's individual time trial and extend his lead.
Boogerd, of the Rabobank team, took the stage between the ski stations of Les Deux-Alpes and La Plagne in 5:48.29.
Spain's Carlos Sastre was second, just ahead of Armstrong, who had the same time as the CSC-Tiscali rider.
Armstrong sprinted away from the pack of race favorites 2½ miles before the finish. The U.S. Postal Service team rider was about 2:40 behind Boogerd when he made the break.
He powered up the final stretch, cutting more than a minute off Boogerd's lead and catching up with Sastre. He shook hands with Sastre after crossing the line. Beloki finished 2:02 behind Boogerd.
Armstrong was congratulated by Prince Albert of Monaco after the stage.
Lance At 16th Stage
Year Lead
1999 6:15
2000 5:37
2001 5:05
2002 5:06
Armstrong finished ninth in the 15th stage on Tuesday. The 140-mile stage from Vaison-la-Romaine to Les Deux-Alpes was the longest of the competition. Armstrong trailed the winner, Colombia's Santiago Botero, by 6:41.
"Les Deux-Alpes, it's not too hard, it's not good for attacking,'' Armstrong said.
On Tuesday, Botero was timed in 5:55:16, breaking from the main pack 103 miles before the finish.
"I kept my rhythm the whole day,'' Botero said.
This was his second stage win of this Tour. He stunned Armstrong to capture the ninth stage, an individual time trial.
Belgium's Mario Aerts was second, 1:51 behind Botero, and countryman Axel Merckx was third, 2:30 off the pace.
France's Christophe Moreau, fourth in the Tour two years ago, crashed early in the stage and cut his lip. He was 41st overall when he quit.
The first stage in the Alps was easier than the opening two mountain stages in the Pyrenees, and easier than the climb to the top of the Mont Ventoux.
Tuesday's racing came on the same day Jan Ullrich drew a six-month cycling ban for taking amphetamines. The German contends he took the substance at a nightclub and was not taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Ullrich won the Tour in 1997 and was runner-up four times, twice behind Armstrong. He is not competing in this year's race because of injury.
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posted on July 24, 2002 05:27:20 PM new
In life you can't pull the words back once said but on boards all is possible if their is no archivist.
[ edited by gravid on Jul 25, 2002 12:51 AM ]
posted on July 24, 2002 11:29:14 PM new
This was written a couple of days,Right after 9/11, When I wrote at the beginning
Maybe Bush was suppose to be there,Maybe it should have been a question. Would the towers have come down if Gore was in office at the time? So many things have gone wrong
No matter who has been in office.I copyed this one because of all the different politics involved and time frame...Gravid
I mentioned in another thread that I did not take responsibilty for anything the Government did.And you posted under me in response to what auroanorth had said.I didnt change my mind.You said you heard this crap in elementry school,You were lucky,We were taught(down here in the South)that we did no
wrong,And everyone one else was the bad guy.
posted on July 25, 2002 12:43:58 AM new
Well if you edit away the seminal statement of the thread it makes a reply superfluous.
[ edited by gravid on Jul 25, 2002 12:48 AM ]
posted on July 25, 2002 07:32:08 AM new
That caused our answers to appear completely whacked. LOL!
Even more than usual. I agree I won't post to
any more junquemama posts since the original post is just removed in its entirety. This may not be life and death stuff here but if my post was upsetting or disagreed with I still want to be told or responded to not just side stepped.
The original post was about how we are all responsible for the errors and sins of our countrymen and government all the way back until the first European set foot on the continent and that is the root cause and why we should not be surprised at 9/11. That we are now moving past that. I refuse to accept any community responsibility for what I am powerless to alter.
CLUSES, France -- Italian rider Dario Frigo won Thursday's 17th stage of the Tour de France, while Lance Armstrong kept the overall leader's yellow jersey and remained almost certain to take a fourth straight title on Sunday.
Thursday's leg was the last of the grueling mountain stages. The remaining three legs are easier and give rivals almost no opportunity to cut Armstrong's big lead of 5 minutes, 6 seconds.
The Texan finished the stage from Aime to Cluses in 24th place, 4 minutes, 36 seconds behind Frigo, who clocked 4:02:27 in the 88-mile stage.
"I showed that when there are stages at my level, I can make my presence felt,'' said Frigo, who never before had won a Tour stage.
He beat Belgian rider Mario Aerts in a blistering sprint finish. Aerts had the same time as Frigo, while another Italian, Giuseppe Guerini, was third, two seconds off the pace.
Frigo ducked in the final stretch to avoid the outstretched hand of a fan, who was trying to take a photograph.
The Tacconi rider won last year's Paris-Nice race. But last September, he drew a six-month doping ban for possession of banned substances. The ban followed a police raid on the 2001 Giro d'Italia that revealed illicit drugs in some team hotel rooms. Asd a result of the raid,Frigo was thrown out of the race by his team at the time, Fassa Bortolo.
Armstrong's biggest rival, Spaniard Joseba Beloki, finished in the same time as the Texan. He is second in the overall standings, 5:06 behind Armstrong.
