AX-LES-THERMES, France, 20 July 2003 — Four-time champion Lance Armstrong watched his narrow lead in the 2003 Tour de France shrink again as Spaniard Carlos Sastre won yeterday’s 13th stage.
Sastre completed the 197.5-kilometer course from Toulouse to the ski station of Ax-3 Domaines in the Pyrenees Mountains in 5:16.08 hours, beating German Jan Ullrich by 1:01, with Haimar Zubeldia of Spain in third place.
Armstrong finished fourth, 1:08 adrift of the winner, and now clings to a razor-thin 15-second lead over Ullrich in the overall standings. Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, who finished fifth Saturday, remains in third place, 1:01 behind Armstrong.
However, the stage raised further questions about Armstrong’s fitness, especially in hot weather. In yesterday’s stage, which was again run in searing temperatures, Ullrich sprinted away from the American near the top of the final ascent to the finish line as Armstrong appeared to struggle for a second consecutive day.
In Friday’s individual time trial, Ullrich bested Armstrong by 1:36, as the native Texan complained afterward of being dehydrated.
However, Armstrong appeared not to be troubled by his showing.
“I didn’t expect to have great legs today (Saturday),” he said. “Yesterday’s effort was too hard. It’s difficult to recover from that in 24 hours. I’m not disappointed.”
On the positive side for the Texas native, who is attempting to win his record-equaling fifth consecutive championship, Vinokourov also faded in the heat, as did Spaniard Iban Mayo, considered one of his most dangerous rivals before the Tour began.
After testing Armstrong, Mayo could not keep up and lost 51 seconds to the American, whom he now trails by more than five minutes. Sastre, who won his first-ever stage in the Tour de France, was obviously delighted. “It’s the dream of every professional cyclist to win a stage in the Tour de France,” he said. “Today I realized a dream.”
As he crossed the finish line, the 28-year-old Madrid native placed a baby’s pacifier between his lips, a gesture of gratitude and love for his family, he said.
