TOUR DE FRANCE
DUTCHMAN Bart Voskamp won the eighteenth stage of the Tour de France yesterday, outsprinting German Christian Henn at the end of a relatively undemanding 97-mile ride from Pamplona, Spain.
Voskamp and Henn escaped from a breakaway group of five riders five miles from the finish in the port of Hendaye, on the French Basque coast.
The Dutch rider proved faster, crossing the line narrowly ahead of the German champion to score his first stage win.
After Wednesday's exhausting stage in the Pyrenees, race leader Bjarne Riis of Denmark badly needed a rest and stayed comfortably in the pack, which came in almost 17 minutes behind the winner.
However, Riis stays firmly in command and seems to have little to fear until the race ends in Paris on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Dane secured his overall lead after winning Tuesday's stage and finishing second on Wednesday in two gruelling climbing stages in the Pyrenees that shook up the overall standings.
Five-times defending champion Miguel Indurain, who was going for his record sixth straight Tour win, finished with the main pack of riders yesterday and remains 15 minutes 36 seconds behind Riis.
Professional photographers boycotted the stage after Patrick Boutroux of the sports newspaper L'Equipe was knocked off his motorcycle by sports director Alvaro Pino of the Kelme team on Wednesday.
On-course television camera crews also boycotted most of the stage, providing coverage from a motorcycle only in the final 13 miles.
The racers paced themselves in yesterday's heat, covering just 17 miles in the first hour as the Tour returned to France after one stage in Spain.
The race was spared the disturbances of Wednesday when a dozen Basque demonstrators strung banners across the course and almost forced the lead riders to halt.
The 21-stage Tour continues today with a flat 140-mile stage along the Atlantic coast from Hendaye to Bordeaux, ahead of a time trial tomorrow and on Sunday's ceremonial spin through the capital.
Riis still holds a comfortable lead of 3min 59sec on second-placed German Jan Ullrich in the overall standings, with Frenchman Richard Virenque third a further 26sec back.
Voskamp, who usually concentrates on preparing the sprints for fellow Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens, his team-mate in the TVM stable, seized his chance to shine yesterday.
``Usually, I have to work for Jeroen, but as I was in a breakaway group and it was obvious that there would not be a sprint, I had an opportunity,'' said the 28-year-old from Wagenigen, whose previous significant success was a stage of the 1994 Tour of Spain.
Placings in the eighteenth stage, 97 miles from Pamplona to Hendaye: 1, B Voskamp (Holland) 4hr 11min 2sec; 2, C Henn (Germany) at 2sec; 3, A Elli (Italy) 27; 4, B Thibout (France) same time; 5, B Boscardin (Italy) 32; 6, A Ferrigato (Italy) 1:26; 7, P Herve (France); 8, E Breukink (Holland); 9, V Fois (Italy); 10, D Perona (Italy); 11, C Salvato (Italy); 12, M Bartoli (Italy); 13, M Alonso (Spain) all same time; 14, P Jonker (Australia) 1:32; 15, E Zabel (Germany) 16:56; 16, D Abdoujaparov (Uzb); 17, F Baldato (Italy); 18, F Moncassin (France); 19, A Baronti (Italy); 20, L Brochard (France) all same time. 92, C Boardman (Great Britain) at 16:56.
Overall standings (yellow jersey): 1, B Riis (Denmark) 85hr 43min 32sec; 2, J Ullrich (Germany) at 3:59; 3, R Virenque (France) 4:25; 4, L Dufaux (Switzerland) 5:52; 5, P Luttenberger (Austria) 6:19; 6, F Escartin (Spain) 7:23; 7, P Ugrumov (Latvia) 7:48; 8, L Leblanc (France) 8:01; 9, A Olano (Spain) 11:12; 10, T Rominger (Switzerland) 11:24; 11, M Indurain (Spain) 15:36; 12, Jonker 17:39; 13, B Hamburger (Denmark) 19:18; 14, L Piepoli (Italy) 19:31; 15, Elli 20:46; 16, M F Gines (Spain) 21:37; 17, U Bolts (Germany) 26:05; 18, Bartoli 30:37; 19, Brochard 31:32; 20, Y Berzin (Russsia) 37:22; 43, Boardman 1:27:33.
Mountains (red polka dot jersey): 1, R Virenque 383pts; 2, B Riis 274; 3, L Dufaux 176; 4, L Brochard 168; 5, L Leblanc 158.
Points (green jersey): 1 E Zabel 277; 2, F Moncassin 215; 3, F Baldato 192; 4, D Abdoujaparov 156; 5 J Blijlevens 121.
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