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Armstrong Retains Lead at Tour De France
MENDE, France -- Lance Armstrong easily retained his overall lead after a tricky stage 18 of the Tour de France, won Thursday by Spain's Marcos Serrano.Armstrong finished in a group with Ivan Basso of Italy, Jan Ullrich of Germany and Cadel Evans of Australia. The six-time champion's lead over Basso, his closest challenger, remained unchanged at 2 minutes and 46 seconds. The group of four broke away from other riders with a burst of speed during a brutal final ascent. Mickael Rasmussen is still third, but he was slower up the last climb and finished behind Armstrong's group. He is now 3:46 behind Armstrong. Ullrich is still fourth, 5:58 behind Armstrong. But by making time back over Rasmussen, the 1997 Tour winner improved his chances of being able to overtake the Dane in the time trial on Saturday, the penultimate day of the three-week race. Serrano, who surged to the lead at the end of a brutal final climb, was one of 10 riders that broke away from Armstrong's main pack. Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-07-21 |
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