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Joseba Beloki Posted: Wednesday July 10, 2002 7:14 AM
Cycling Weekly profiles the contenders for the Tour de France overall winner's yellow jersey. The odds of Joseba Beloki actually doing what he says he ’ll do -— beating Lance Armstrong —- are pretty low, but the Basque star, who’s twice been on the Tour podium now, has one big reason why he should be back up there again and that’s consistency. Never one to attack,Beloki has always ridden his own race, rarely going into the red and firmly ignoring the Armstrong vs. Ullrich duels that characterized the race in 2000 and 2001. It was a tactic that worked, too, giving him third overall in his first ever Tour and third again in 2001. “Last year I had a point to prove,which was that 2000 wasn’t some fluke,” Beloki insists. “This time round I ’ll be going for broke.” Maybe, but the chances are that at some point in the first week (maybe when he’s lost three minutes in the Lorient time trial) Beloki will realize that beating Armstrong is out of the question and settle for second. With no Ullrich, logic dictates that’s more than possible for the Basque. His only problems have been one rough stage at Luz-Ardiden in the Pyrenees last year,and a cracked rib in the third week of the 2000 race. Neither kept him off the podium though. Cycling Weekly is Britain's best selling cycling magazine with unrivaled coverage of UK and international bike racing. To save up to 25 percent on a Cycling Weekly subscription click here.
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