GRENOBLE, France, 16 June 2003 — Lance Armstrong sent a strong warning before next month’s Tour de France, winning the Dauphine Libere cycle race for the second successive year after yesterday’s seventh and final stage.
The American, who will be bidding for a fifth consecutive victory in the Tour when it starts on July 5, outclassed all his rivals over the eight-day race beating Spain’s Iban Mayo by more than a minute.
He seized the yellow jersey on Wednesday after winning the 33.4-km time trial, survived a fall and a slight elbow-injury on Friday, and mastered the mountain-specialists on the Galibier on Saturday to seal the title.
Despite a difficult course over three major climbs, col du Lautaret, col du Coq and col de Porte, yesterday’s 174-km last stage won by Frenchman Cedric Vasseur, did not affect the outcome of the race after Armstrong finished fifth.
Armstrong was on the shoulders of Spain’s Mayo, and Francisco Mancebo, as Frenchman Christophe Moreau reached the top of the Lautaret at an altitude of 2,058 meters.
The American then led the chase on the descent as seven riders broke away, before his US Postal team caught the breakaway riders on the first category col du Coq.
Mayo, who pipped Armstrong in the prologue and in Thursday’s fourth stage, tried to take advantage of the 8.7 percent gradient slopes but the American countered the attacks to ensure his nearest challenger never got away.
Vasseur crossed the line one minute and 59 seconds ahead of Christophe Edaleine, also of France.
Ullrich Aiming Only
for Stage Win in Tour
In Frankfurt, Olympic champion Jan Ullrich has set himself the modest aim of winning a stage in this year’s centenary Tour de France, his Bianchi team director Rudy Pevenage said in an interview published yesterday.
Pevenage admitted he had set his expectations low for Ullrich, a former winner of the Tour de France, who has suffered niggling injuries since returning to the saddle in April after a suspension for doping.
“We’re not going to the Tour to win it. If Ullrich can win a stage, I would be satisfied,” Pevenage told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagzeitung.
