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| |  Friday, 20 July, 2001, 15:32 GMT 16:32 UK Cardenas tastes Tour joy Simon, Armstrong and O'Grady at the start in Perpignan Colombia's Felix Cardenas took his first Tour de France stage win on Friday, but Lance Armstrong stole the show with another storming climb to take more time out of his chief rivals. Cardenas, of the Kelme team, chased down the long-time stage leader Paolo Bettini on the final climb to Ax-les-Thermes and had just enough left in the tank to hold off Spain's Roberto Laiseka by 15 seconds. Armstrong was only three seconds further back in third, but the two-time Tour de France winner was a vital 23 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Ullrich. The German rider had attacked Armstrong at the beginning of the first category climb to the finish, but the Texan covered the move with ease.
Cardenas, who with David Etxebarria had chased down Bettini, had slipped away at the front and built a one minute lead with 4km to go. The Colombian would need nearly all of that lead, as Laiseka and Armstrong chased him all the way to the line. Armstrong's charge was particularly impressive, as it was preceded by his now trademark glance back at Ullrich. The German was unable to respond and the US Postal rider disappeared up the road just as he had on the climb to L'Alpe d'Huez. At the summit of the Bonsacre climb, a jubilant Cardenas told reporters that his win was a vital boost for the Kelme team.
"I'm delighted to have won the stage today," said Cardenas. "We struggled in the Alps, and after Santiago's (Botero - the 2000 polka dot jersey winner) performances last year it was very important for us to do something positive here." He dedicated his victory to the Otxoa brothers, Javier and Ricardo Otxoa. The former Kelme team members were hit by a car in an accident in Malaga in February. Ricardo was killed at the scene of the crash while Javier was left in a coma from which he only recently emerged. Francois Simon held on to the yellow jersey for at least one more day by finishing four minutes behind Cardenas. Simon now leads Armstrong by eight minutes 42 seconds, but with two mountain stages to come in the next two days his days in yellow are surely numbered.
"It's still quite a healthy margin, but if I want to keep it I'll be depending on a lot of people for help from now on," the Frenchman said. Green jersey holder Stuart O'Grady enjoyed another great day in the Tour. The Australian got himself into a small breakaway group on the first climb of the day and stayed away from the peloton for almost 60km - picking up a potentially vital four points at the second intermediate sprint. The day's hard luck story undoubtedly belonged to Bettini, as the Italian rider launched a brave solo bid for victory that was only thwarted on the final 9km climb. The 166.5km stage was marred by a number of high-speed crashes, the worst coming on the descent from the Col de Jau. In separate incidents, Sergei Ivanov and Bram de Groot both went over the side of the road. Ivanov, who won the ninth stage, was quickly taken to hospital with a broken collar bone.
Thankfully, the Dutch rider's injuries were less serious than first feared, and helicopter ambulance crew were eventually able to take De Groot to hospital. Tour doctor Gerard Porte told reporters that the rider was in a "satisfactory condition" but had suffered multiple face and shoulder fractures. On another gruelling mountain stage, French favourite and Prologue winner Christophe Moreau was another high-profile casualty. He pulled out with chest problems. There will be respite for the field on Saturday, when the 13th stage takes them on another up-and-down course from Foix to Saint-Lary-Soulan. | |
See also:  20 Jul 01 | Tour de France Top Tour de France stories now: Links to more Tour de France stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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