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Armstrong streak ends Colombian Botero wins ninth stage of Tour de FrancePosted: Monday July 15, 2002 11:02 AMUpdated: Monday July 15, 2002 4:52 PM
LORIENT, France (Reuters) -- For the first time in four Tours de France, Lance Armstrong showed signs of weakness when he was beaten by Colombian Santiago Botero in the first big time trial of this year's race on Monday. Botero humbled the once-invincible American in one hour, two minutes and 18 seconds over 52 kilometers of an individual time trial between Lanester and Lorient, in Brittany. The Texan, who had won the five long-distance time trials held on the Tour since 1999, had to be content with second place this time, 11 seconds behind the Kelme team leader. "At first, I was disappointed I did not win the stage and take the yellow jersey," Armstrong said. "It was not a good day for me. But it's not a surprise that Botero won," he added.
Not far from the course on which he was crowned time-trial world champion two years ago in Plouay, Ukraine's Serhiy Honchar was third in 1:02:36. Spaniard Igor Gonzalez Galdeano was fourth a second behind Honchar to retain his overall leader's yellow jersey. The ONCE team rider leads Armstrong by 26 seconds overall, a gap that would not have existed had the U.S Postal leader not lost 27 seconds after getting tangled up with his teammate Roberto Heras during the stage to Avranches two days ago. But there was nothing Armstrong, who had won the prologue in Luxembourg, could do against Botero on the windswept course along the Breton seafront. "I was highly motivated for that time trial," said Botero, who was crowned king of the mountains on the Tour two years ago. "I was full of confidence, because I felt very powerful on the flat. "I have not been 100 percent in the mountains and I'm going to see how I feel in the first stage in the Pyrenees and then anything can happen ," he added. Beating ArmstrongBotero's victory was not such a big upset as the Colombian had arguably been the best time trial specialist of the season, beating Armstrong in the Dauphine Libere after winning the two stages against the clock in last year's Tour of Spain.
Botero is also rather untypical for a Colombian as most his compatriots are climbers. Last year in the first time trial of the Tour, Armstrong beat his closest rival, German Jan Ulrich, by a minute, but this year's was a much tighter call, with less than a minute separating the first seven riders. But Botero and Gonzalez Galdeano, who also beat Armstrong in a time trial this season in the Midi Libre, confirmed they would be the American's big rivals for the Tour this year. "I was a little bit worried about Armstrong's form and anxious to know whether he would leave the rest of the bunch a minute behind. "Now I know the answer," said Gonzalez Galdeano. "The Tour has changed. Armstrong is not so strong in time trials as he was last year, but he remains my number one opponent," he added. Armstrong can, however, find some consolation in the fact that he took precious time off mountain specialists like Spaniard Joseba Beloki, who is third overall -- 1:23 behind his teammate Gonzalez Galdeano, and Oscar Sevilla, now some five minutes behind the American overall. Botero moved up to fifth in the overall standings, 1:55 behind Gonzalez Galdeano. The 182 riders left in the Tour have a rest day on Tuesday.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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