Down Under back on top

O'Grady wins stage 14; Ullrich holds onto yellow jersey

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Sunday July 26, 1998 04:59 PM

With a world title in team sprinting and Olympic medals on the track, O'Grady was expected be strong in the final stretch AP

GRENOBLE, France (CNN/SI) -- Stuart O'Grady of Australia sprinted his way to victory in the 14th stage 186-kilometer (116-mile) of the Tour de France from Valreas to Grenoble on Sunday.

Defending champion Jan Ullrich riding for the Telekom team held onto the overall lead, one minute, 11 seconds ahead of Bobby Julich of the United States.

Meinert-Nielsen came in fifth, the second straight fifth-place finish for a member of the U.S. Postal team.

The 116-mile stage from Valreas to Grenoble was the last before the Alps. With temperatures at 86 degrees, the favorites conserved their strength with the Alps coming up the next three days.

O'Grady was part of a six-man breakaway that left the pack early in the day. He edged Italy's Giuseppe Calcaterra at the line for the victory.

With a world title in team sprinting and Olympic medals on the track, O'Grady was expected be strong in the final stretch.

"I knew if it came down to a sprint, they would be watching for me," O'Grady said. "But I didn't want to have done all that work in the break and have the win go to someone else."

O'Grady and the five others built their lead the last 75 miles, ahead of the pack by 10 minutes.

Of the top six in the stage, Peter Meinert-Nielsen of Denmark was the closest to Ullrich in the overall standings entering the day at more than 38 minutes behind. The rest were nearly an hour or more back.

Orlando Rodrigues of Portugal was third with Leon Van Bon of the Netherlands. Laurent Desbiens, another former yellow jersey holder earlier in the Tour, was sixth.

Monday's 15th stage from Grenoble to Les Deux Alpes covers 118 miles, with four major climbs.

In the ongoing drug scandal, the director and doctor of the Dutch team TVM were jailed during the weekend. They are expected to be brought to Reims for more investigation concerning a drug seizure in the car of one of the team officials in March.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc has said he will expel the TVM team, as he did the Festina team, if there is evidence or acknowledgment of drug use by the team.

Three Festina officials, including the director and team doctor, were jailed on drug charges.

Related information
Stories
Drug scandals dog Tour de France 'Pirate' Pantani can't wait for the Alps
Stats
Stage 14 Results
Multimedia
Check out highlights from the 14th stage   • Start(2.01 M .MOV) Click here for the latest audio and video
Message Boards
1998 Tour de France Join the discussion
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.