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Landis keeps overall lead in Tour de France

5 min read

CARCASSONNE, France (AP) – If Lance Armstrong drops in on the Tour de France as expected next week, he’ll have something to celebrate. His Discovery Channel squad, struggling at its first Tour without the seven-time champion, had its first stage winner on Friday, in young Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych. U.S. rider Floyd Landis kept the overall lead.

The now-retired Armstrong, a part owner of the Discovery squad, is expected at the race Tuesday or Wednesday, said team spokesman P.J. Rabice. Given the struggles they’ve faced, his ex-teammates could probably do with his advice and help.

Discovery came to the Tour with several riders touted as possible contenders to pick up where Armstrong left off. George Hincapie, who rode with the Texan on all seven of his wins, got the team off to a quick start by placing second in the opening short time trial and by taking the overall race lead the next day.

But it was all downhill from there. Discovery flunked the first big test of the Tour, failing to place any riders in the top 15 in the first long time trial last weekend. And hopes of a rebound seemed all but dashed when Hincapie and other Discovery riders melted on the hardest day in the Pyrenees on Thursday.

What a difference a day makes.

Popovych’s stylish win Friday – he rode alone to the finish in the medieval walled city of Carcassonne – could not have come at a better time, especially since Discovery had just lost two riders who dropped out of the Tour with injuries earlier in the day.

“Emergency! We were just desperate,” said Discovery’s 40-year-old veteran Russian rider, Viatceslav Ekimov.

Stage 12 took the Tour out of the Pyrenees. The sun was scorching, the terrain still tricky, with one moderately hard climb early on and other hills after that. Several groups of riders, looking to triumph on the French national holiday of Bastille Day, tried to ride off ahead of the main pack of riders, only to be reeled back in.

But Popovych and three other riders from rival teams succeeded where the others failed. As Carcassonne approached, with their lead over the main pack at more than four minutes, it became clear that one of them would be emerge as the winner.

Popovych made certain it would be him by shaking off his fellow riders with repeated bursts of speed on the city’s outskirts. He sped over the last mile and a quarter alone and, as he crossed the line, repeatedly made the sign of the cross on his chest.

Only that morning, Discovery’s savvy race manager, Johan Bruyneel, had sought to rally his riders. Even though the overall Tour title looks out of reach for Discovery, there are still stages left to win before the finish in Paris on July 23.

“This morning, coming out of the bus, Johan told me, ‘Right, you need to go and win a stage.’ Now, that’s done,” Popovych said. “We’re going to use our imagination to do some beautiful things in the stages that are left.”

The 26-year-old, who won the white jersey awarded to the Tour’s best young rider last year, had started the day in 23rd place, 9 minutes behind Landis.

He moved up to 10th place, 4:15 behind Landis, a far smaller deficit that revives his chances of a high placing in Paris – if he rides better in the Alps next week than he did in the Pyrenees.

Popovych, the second Ukrainian to win a stage this year, covered the 131 miles in 4 hours, 34 minutes and 58 seconds – for an average speed of just over 28 mph, remarkably quick given the hills and the heat.

He finished 27 seconds ahead of Italian Alessandro Ballan, 29 seconds ahead of Spaniard Oscar Freire and 35 ahead of Christophe Le Mevel – his three companions in the escape.

Landis and contenders right behind him in the overall standings finished in a group together, 4:25 back, so the time gaps between them remained unchanged.

Landis is still 8 seconds ahead of Cyril Dessel, a previously unheralded Frenchman who will be hard-pressed to stay with the pace in the Alps. Russian Denis Menchov, who looks strong, trails Landis by 61 seconds in third.

The Discovery riders who dropped out were Paolo Savoldelli, a two-time Tour of Italy champion, and Spaniard Benjamin Noval.

Savoldelli had a cut above his right eye that required 10 stitches in a collision Thursday with a spectator.

“His head was just pounding and throbbing. He could barely even ride,” Rabice said.

Noval, meanwhile, had deep muscle strains in both legs and “could barely pedal.”

That leaves Discovery with seven riders. But at least Armstrong should soon be around to offer support.

While still unclear whether the former champion will hang around for the finish in Paris, Rabice said he wants to follow the race in a team car and “hang out with the boys.”

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