Joseba Beloki is out of the Tour de France after suffering multiple
fractures during a fall on the final descent on stage nine.
Beloki, the runner-up last year, was once more lying in second
place, just 40 seconds behind race leader Lance Armstrong.
The Spaniard was part of a group of riders chasing down Alexandre
Vinokourov as stage nine reached its climax. He lost control as he braked hard at speed on a tight bend and
crashed hard onto the tarmac. The ONCE team leader fell on his elbow and also hit his head and
suffered a number of cuts. Doctors later said he had broken his right leg near the hip and had
also suffered wrist and elbow fractures.
Armstrong was right behind, and only just managed to avoid the prone
Beloki, who was later taken to hospital in an ambulance. The American was forced off the road and had to take a short cut
across a field, cutting out a hairpin bend. He then had to jump off his bike to carrying it through a ditch
before remounting just a few places down the field.
"His tyre exploded in front of me," Armstrong told French
television. "I decided to do a bit of cyclo cross!" he added.
"I was really scared. It was the reflexes of a survivor."
"He was racing the race, and racing aggressively. It's a shame
to see a guy who's out there, who's a real threat to the race, going
down like that."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/tour_de_france_2003/3065593.stm
Published: 2003/07/14 15:37:53 GMT
© BBC MMIII
GAP, France (AFP) - Four-time champion Lance Armstrong avoided being
fined or punished for his dramatic detour through a field to avoid
crashing into fallen rival Joseba Beloki near the end of the Tour de
France ninth stage. Armstrong … was deemed not to have benefited from his impromptu
change of direction.
"Beloki's fall led Armstrong to take evasive action, leading him
into a field which he left without gaining any advantage on the group of
riders he had been with," said an organisers' statement.
Armstrong shows his
mettle - Bob Ford - Philadelphia Inquirer
|
Armstrong boosted as Beloki crashes out
14/07/2003 -
6:52:36 pm
Alexander
Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was the victor today as the centenary
Tour de France provided another day of thrills and spills with
Spain‘s much-fancied Joseba Beloki eliminated after injuring
himself in a fall close to the finish.
 Beloki, last year‘s runner-up and arguably the biggest
danger to Tour leader Lance Armstrong, had to be taken to
hospital after his freak fall a little more than four
kilometres from the line.
Cradling his bloodied elbow and also apparently nursing an
injured hip he wept in the arms of his team entourage as he
was helped into the ambulance.
 Armstrong,
who had shadowed his arch-rival closely all day, narrowly
avoided being caught up in the fall as 29-year-old Beloki‘s
bike seemed to slip from under him after a puncture.
The American was forced into a cornfield before he cut across
the hairpin turn with his bike on his shoulder and remounted
to rejoin the race.
The 31-year-old Texan, bidding for a record-equalling fifth
Tour win, retains the race leader‘s yellow jersey by 21
seconds from Vinokourov who came in 36 seconds ahead of his
pursuers after the 184.5km ride to Gap from Bourg d‘Oisans
including some more tough Alpine ascents.
 Vinokourov
savoured his win on the day, saying: “It was my best race
and I am very pleased with this success in my fourth Tour. I
did not know what was happening behind me.”
Victory was sweet for the Telekom rider whose close friend and
compatriot Andrei Kivilev died after an accident during the
Paris-Nice race earlier this year.
Italy‘s Paolo Bettini finished second on the day with
Spain‘s Iban Mayo coming third just ahead of Armstrong, who
did well to finish so high given his dramatic escape.
Mayo, who won yesterday’s eighth stage, is just one minute
and two seconds behind Armstrong overall while Francisco
Mancebo of Spain and American Tyler Hamilton, who continues to
defy the pain caused by his injured collarbone, are both
within two minutes of the front-runner after finishing in the
group that followed Vinokourov home.
 Jan
Ullrich of Germany, the 1997 champion, recovered from his poor
performance on Sunday to stay within 2:10 of the leader but
the elimination of Beloki removes a further threat to
Armstrong after another Spaniard Aitor Gonzalez, the 2002
Vuelta (Tour of Spain) winner withdrew yesterday.
There was no indication of the drama to come as the race wound
its way down to the finish.
A breakaway group of seven riders still held a lead of 4:10
with 40km remaining.
Spain‘s Aitor Garmendia, Luis-Angel Casero and Alberto Lopez
de Munain, German Jorg Jaksche, Italy‘s Danilo Di Luca and
Franco Pellizotti and Colombia‘s Ivan Parra were the
escapees.
The blazing sunshine and the fact that it was France‘s
Bastille Day national holiday brought tens of thousands more
spectators to the world‘s most-watched sports event.
But France‘s numerous competitors were unable to mount a
challenge on the stage which included the famous Lautaret and
Col d‘Izoard peaks.
With the centenary Tour keen to honour its history this year,
Tour boss Jean-Marie Leblanc laid a wreath at the Col
d‘Izoard to commemorate two of Le Tour‘s legends of
yesteryear, the late Italian Fausto Coppi and France‘s
Louison Bobet, the first man to win the race three times.
Tomorrow‘s 10th stage – a 215km run from Gap to Marseille
– sees the peloton come down from the mountains although
they will later in the race tackle the Pyrenees where Beloki
had been hoping to count on the support of the Spanish and
Basque supporters.
Now someone else must take up that baton but Armstrong, whose
US Postal team were unable to stay with their leader on
Monday, has plenty of other challengers breathing down his
neck.
|
email Jacq'
