Lance Armstrong is a superstar trying to battle his way into the history books. Jan Ullrich is a spunky underdog trying to break out of a runners-up rut.
The two dominant figures of this year's Tour de France -- possibly the world's most grueling athletic event -- drew closer on Thursday to their day of reckoning, finishing neck-and-neck in the pancake-flat 17th stage.
PHOTO: AFP
Today, the four-time Tour champion and the four-time Tour runner-up face a great battle in the individual time trial, the stage expected to decide who will stand astride the winner's podium tomorrow.
Armstrong, heavily favored to win the race, holds a 67-second lead over Ullrich, a 29-year-old German who on occasion has come razor-close to ripping the overall leader's jersey off the 31-year-old Texan's back.
Thursday's 181km stage was won by Servais Knaven, the first Dutch rider to take a stage on this centenary Tour.
Armstrong achieved his aim of staying safe, out of any crashes. His US Postal Service team, racing in a long line at the front of the main pack of riders, guided him toward the finish in Bordeaux, southwestern France's wine capital.
Armstrong, the four-time champion pursuing Spanish great Miguel Indurain's record of five successive wins, placed 28th, just behind Ullrich, in 27th. They finished in the same time, 8 minutes and 6 seconds behind Knaven, meaning Armstrong preserved his lead with just three days of racing to go.
Armstrong and Ullrich are fixing their attention on today, when they race against the clock seeking to clinch the overall Tour title.
Ullrich, a silver medalist in the event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is hoping for a repeat of his crushing defeat of Armstrong in a time trial last Friday, when he bit a whooping 96 seconds off Armstrong's overall lead, setting the stage for a grippingly close final week in the three-week 3,427.5km clockwise slog around France.
"I want to win this Tour. I have never been so close to Armstrong. I feel now my top form is coming," Ullrich, runner-up to Armstrong in 2000 and 2001, said in a posting on his Web site this week.
Armstrong, however, was dehydrated that day because of a heat wave that scorched the Tour. He has never lost the last time trial at the Tour since his first win in 1999 and said on Wednesday that he has no intention of doing so now. His mood has been more buoyant since his dramatic stage victory on Monday in the Pyrenees, when he recovered from a fall and powered past Ullrich to build on his previously razor-thin overall lead.
"Ullrich is a dangerous rider for the time trial," Armstrong's Postal teammate, Jose Luis Rubiera, said on Thursday. "But I think in normal conditions Lance would not have lost that time during the [last] time trial."
Yesterday, the Tour was due to venture off on another flat stage from Bordeaux, where Armstrong's aim is again expected to be keeping fresh and uninjured for today's clash with Ullrich.
Knaven, of the Italian Quickstep-Davitamon team, was delighted with his first Tour stage win.
"I've always been second, third, fourth," he said, tears in his eyes. "Today I won. Incredible."
Italian Paolo Bossoni of the Caldirola-So.Di team finished second, ahead of France's Christophe Mengin, of fdjeux.com, in third. Highlighting the flatness of the stage, Knaven finished in just 3 hours, 54 minutes and 23 seconds, racing at a speedy average of 46kph.
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
TAIWANESE WIN: Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien and their partners won their first-round matches in the women’s doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year. On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day. Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming. He
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
RSS