Tour de France
Lance leaving only the crumbs

By Bonnie DeSimone
Chicago Tribune

Lance Armstrong is virtually assured of victory.

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LE GRAND BORNAND, France — There is only one "Cannibal" in cycling — the voraciously competitive five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx, who never saw a finish line he didn't want to cross first.

But Lance Armstrong is revealing a ragingly carnivorous appetite of his own.

Climbs, time trials, sprints — Armstrong appears ravenous in his campaign for a record sixth Tour title.

Already virtually assured of victory, he inhaled Germany's Andreas Kloden yesterday in a furious dash for the finish line.

The Texan got his 20th career stage victory and third straight this year. He equaled his high of four in one race.

"Am I the new Cannibal?" Armstrong said, referring to Merckx, who won a record 34 Tour stages. "The answer is no."

But Armstrong isn't relaxing on his way to Paris, where the Tour ends Sunday.

The road to Paris Today Annemasse to Lons-le-Saunier, 103.4 miles The rolling 18th stage, which slopes downhill at the finish, will appeal to sprinters, if any still have legs. Tomorrow Besançon, 34.1 miles In the final individual time trial, expect Lance Armstrong to stomp on the pedals and show who's boss. As if there was any doubt. Sunday Montereau to Paris, 101 miles Armstrong will sip champagne for photographers on the largely ceremonial Stage 20, which ends on the Champs Elysées with the coronation of the Tour's first six-time king.

"No gifts this year," he said. "I want to win."

Armstrong only went for the victory when it became apparent teammate Floyd Landis didn't quite have the legs for it.

"He was the man of the day," Armstrong said of Landis, who led him up the last climb of the brutally difficult final mountain stage of the race. "I really wanted him to win the stage."

As the two crested the Col de la Croix Fry in 90-degree temperatures after 5-1/2 hours in the saddle, Armstrong said he asked Landis if he wanted to win and if he could descend fast enough in the final eight miles of the 127-mile stage.

Landis, a 28-year-old Pennsylvania native, said yes to both questions.

"Run like you stole something, Floyd," Armstrong told him.

Landis launched a sprint near the finish but was hunted down by T-Mobile team leader Jan Ullrich, whose bid for the podium appears more and more unlikely.

Then Kloden — Ullrich's ostensible sidekick who has out-ridden him throughout the Tour — forged ahead with explosive acceleration.

Armstrong rocketed off in pursuit and found just enough speed to beat Kloden by a whisker.

"Lance tried to let me win, but Ullrich didn't want me to win," Landis said. "So Lance won. Ha! Which is better anyway. ... I'm happy for Lance. He can sprint too."

Tour historian Jacques Augendre watched Armstrong's finish in wide-eyed amazement.

"He has expanded his repertoire again," Augendre said. "Before, you couldn't classify him as a sprinter. Now he has become a sprinter. It's crazy. This has to be discouraging his adversaries. You can't beat him in the mountains or in time trials or in sprints."

Spectator dies in fall

GRENOBLE, France — The body of a 64-year-old Tour de France spectator was found by the roadside leading up to the L'Alpe d'Huez ski station, police officials said.

The man appeared to have fallen about 130 feet to his death during Wednesday's 16th stage, when hundreds of thousands of fans watched the mountain time trial.

The man, thought to be from the Paris region, was not immediately identified.

Notes

• Five-time Tour champ Bernard Hinault congratulated Armstrong on the podium for showing his rivals no mercy. "Hinault met me at the top of the steps and said: 'Perfect. No gifts,' " Armstrong said. Hinault, another merciless boss of the peloton, won 28 stages, second most in Tour history.

• Ivan Basso, second overall, finished one second behind Armstrong and Kloden but lost more time to Armstrong because of stage-end time bonuses. Basso is 4:09 off the pace. Kloden solidified his grip on third at 5:11 back, nearly three minutes ahead of Ullrich.

• France's Richard Virenque picked up points on all but one climb to clinch his record-breaking seventh King of the Mountains prize as the Tour's best climber. Armstrong is second in the mountain rankings.

• Gilberto Simoni of Italy won 5,000 euros ($6,120) for being the first rider over the hors categorie Col de la Madeleine, the high point of this year's Tour at 6,560 feet. He edged Virenque in a sprint.

• Roberto Heras, a former Armstrong teammate, withdrew from the race. The climbing specialist, who left U.S. Postal to become leader of the Spanish team Liberty Seguros this year, had a stunningly poor Tour that left him in 45th place, 57 minutes behind Armstrong.

Other top riders who have abandoned include Tyler Hamilton of the U.S., Basque rider Iban Mayo and Spain's Haimar Zubeldia.

Overall leaders

Five-time defending champ Lance Armstrong leads by more than four minutes with three stages remaining. The race ends Sunday.

1. Lance Armstrong, U.S. Postal, 74 hours, 4 minutes, 56 seconds.

2. Ivan Basso, Italy, Team CSC, 4 minutes, 9 seconds behind.

3. Andreas Kloden, Germany, T-Mobile, 5:11 behind.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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