Tour de France
Armstrong raps Tour organizers

The Associated Press and Reuters

PETER DEJONG / AP Italy's 22-year-old Filippo Pozzato, the Tour's youngest rider, exults as he crosses the finish line to win yesterday's 127-mile seventh stage of the Tour de France.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Related stories Tour snapshot: Devil worshipers follow their nose Other links More Tour de France coverage Route map

SAINT-BRIEUC, France — Defending champion Lance Armstrong believes Tour de France organizers could do more to calm nervous riders and avoid spills.

For a second straight day, Armstrong offered unsolicited advice for Tour officials, suggesting that a time trial be held in the often tense first week to thin the number of race favorites.

Sending riders out one-by-one against the clock would leave just the fastest with a realistic chance of winning the three-week Tour. That could leave fewer racers jostling each day at the front of the race — a recipe for crashes.

"The race needs a time trial in the first week because it's too nervous without it," said Armstrong, who remained in sixth place after yesterday's stage at 9 minutes, 35 seconds behind the overall leader.

"It's safer for the event to establish some order in the group and we're still another week away from figuring out who the hell's going to be in the front," he said.

A day earlier, Armstrong said the finish of Friday's stage was too narrow. A pile-up left some riders badly hurt.

As the 32-year-old Texan tries for a record sixth Tour victory, young riders are stealing the headlines.

Outpacing two late challengers, Italy's Filippo Pozzato bolted to victory in yesterday's 127-mile ride from Chateaubriant to Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. At 22, Pozzato is the Tour's youngest rider.

French champion Thomas Voeckler held on to the overall leader's yellow jersey.

Armstrong was 55th in the seventh stage, 10 seconds behind Pozzato. Germany's Jan Ullrich, Armstrong's chief rival, placed 30th in the stage and remains 55 seconds behind Armstrong.

Pozzato's win was a bright spot for the Italians, especially after two top Italian sprinters — Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini — withdrew with injuries. Gilberto Simoni, an outside threat to win the Tour, nearly quit yesterday after being injured in a crash Friday.

A dozen riders have withdrawn from the Tour, mostly with injuries. American Tyler Hamilton, riding for Phonak, hurt his back in Friday's pileup, but kept racing yesterday.

"I wasn't feeling so hot," Hamilton said.

Belgian cyclist out after failing drug test

CHATEAUBRIANT, France — Belgian cyclist Christophe Brandt is out of the Tour de France after failing a drug test.

Hendrik Redant, manager of Brandt's Lotto-Domo team, said the cyclist was sent home Friday after testing positive for methadone, a drug used to help recovering heroin addicts.

Brandt was the first rider to fail a drug test at this year's Tour. He suggested that a laboratory error might be to blame and said he was awaiting results of a second test.

"I've had a dozen tests this year and they were all negative," the rider said.

"No one understands the situation," said his teammate, Rik Verbrugghe. "This is not a product that improves performance."

Overall leaders

Defending champion Lance Armstrong finished 55th yesterday and remained in sixth place, 9 minutes, 35 seconds behind.

1. Thomas Voeckler, France, Brioches La Boulangere, 29:09:14.

2. Stuart O'Grady, Australia, Cofidis, 3:01 behind.

3. Sandy Casar, France, fdjeux.com, 4:06 behind.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More Tour de France headlines...