Six stages remain in the Tour de France cycling race, and barring injury or illness – or a sudden and drastic loss of form – American Lance Armstrong should win his fourth consecutive title.
Armstrong took control of this year’s tour in the Pyrenees Mountains, and after Monday’s rest day there will be three grueling stretches in the Alps. His success is angering French fans and ruining organizers’ plans to make the Tour less predictable.
The U.S. Postal Service team rider leads his closest challenger, Spain’s Joseba Beloki of the Once team, by nearly four and one half minutes in the overall standings. Once’s team director Manolo Saiz told the French daily Le Parisien that Armstrong is much stronger than his team, and the riders see it day after day. He added that the American has shown he has the blood of champions flowing through his veins.
Tour organizers saved some of this year’s toughest stages for the end in a bid to make the race more suspenseful. In 2001, almost the whole final week was made up of flat stretches, in which rivals had nearly no chance of reducing Armstrong’s lead. On Tuesday, riders will pedal from Vaison-La-Romaine, in the southern Provence region, to Les Deux Alpes ski station.
Wednesday’s 16th stage is probably the hardest of the three-week race, taking competitors over three exceptionally difficult climbs. Thursday’s leg also runs through the Alps. Mountain stages are often unpredictable, but Armstrong looked so strong in the first three that a serious challenge in the Alps seems highly unlikely. He won the opening two mountain stages in the Pyrenees, finishing with a sprint both times.
Although he did not win Sunday’s stage on Mont Ventoux, he made the fastest cycling ride to the summit in Tour history. He climbed 1600 meters covering 21 kilometers in 58 minutes, knocking 53 seconds off the previous best set by Italian Marco Pantani two years ago.(voa)
