Lance Armstrong's team is wary its great start is too good too early in the Tour de France.
Armstrong consolidated a healthy lead in Sunday's second stage, safely finishing 63rd in the main pack while 10 riders fell during the 181.5km trek from Challans to Les Essarts.
Armstrong, going for a record seventh straight Tour victory, was second overall and led Jan Ullrich of Germany and Ivan Basso of Italy by more than a minute, with Kazakhstan rider Alexandre Vinokourov 51 seconds behind.
PHOTO: AP
George Hincapie, a vital cog in all of Armstrong's Tour wins, believed the race shouldn't be as easy as it has been in the first two days.
"The race is three weeks long, there's a long way to go," Hincapie said on Sunday. "We're not that confident."
He felt Ullrich's T-Mobile team, which included Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden, last year's runner-up, was poised for a backlash.
PHOTO: AP
"They're fighters and they'll keep on fighting. There's no rest until Paris," Hincapie said.
Ullrich's ambitions for a second Tour victory were dealt a severe blow on Friday when he crashed into the back of his team car during a training run, cutting his neck close to the jugular vein.
He looked demoralized during Saturday's time trial -- conceding 66 seconds to Armstrong -- but appeared determined again on Sunday while placing 19th just behind the front-runners in a dangerous sprint stage won by Belgian Tom Boonen.
Boonen won in 3 hours, 51 minutes, 31 seconds, edging Norway's Thor Hushovd and Australian Robbie McEwen in a hair-raising dash to the line.
Armstrong didn't think Ullrich's accident would keep the 1997 Tour winner down for long.
"I don't put a lot of stock into what happened," Armstrong said. "I crashed 10 days ago, and it took me four or five days to recover. He'll be better in a few days' time. The race goes to Germany, so he has to get better."
With a team time trial on Tuesday and the torturous Alps and Pyrenees looming, Armstrong's rivals still have time to catch up.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Mathys Tel was hero and villain as Tottenham drew 1-1 at home to Leeds United on Monday — a result that leaves their English Premier League future hanging in the balance. The Frenchman broke the deadlock early in the second half to ease the tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but then gave away a penalty with a reckless attempted clearance. In the dying minutes, Spurs were grateful to Antonin Kinsky, who produced an astonishing save to deny the visitors a win. Tottenham are now two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United with just two games left this season. The
‘DONE IT ALL’: LeBron James is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season as a free agent with uncertainty swirling around his future LeBron James on Monday said he would take time to consider his future after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could turn out to be the final game of his career. James, 41, delivered a typically defiant performance with 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from falling 115-110 as the Thunder completed a 4-0 sweep in the Western Conference semi-finals series. The four-time NBA champion is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
RSS