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(07/25/07 11:44pm)
GOURETTE, France – Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen of Denmark has been removed from the race, a devastating blow to cycling’s premier event which has been rocked by a series of doping scandals.\n“Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team’s) internal rules,” Rabobank team spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday.\nThe expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to “incorrect” information that Rasmussen gave to the team’s sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28.\nThe 33-year-old rider, who won Wednesday’s stage, had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday in Paris.\nIn addition to Rasmussen, The Cofidis team pulled out of the Tour de France on Wednesday after rider Cristian Moreni of Italy failed a doping test and was led away by police at the end of the 16th stage.\n“The team will not be at the start tomorrow,” Tour spokesman Philippe Sudres said.\nMoreni tested positive for testosterone after stage 11 of the Tour last Thursday, said Didier Simon, of cycling’s world governing body, the UCI.\n“He accepted his wrongdoing and did not ask for a B-sample,” Cofidis manager Eric Boyer said.\nAthletes caught doping are entitled to ask for follow-up tests to confirm – and in rare cases deny – the results of the initial “A” sample.\nPolice were seen leading Moreni away from the Cofidis team bus. It was unclear where they were taking him. France has tough laws against trafficking in doping products.\nMoreni tested positive for testosterone after stage 11 of the Tour last Thursday, said Didier Simon of cycling’s world governing body, the UCI. He said it was for Cofidis to decide whether to pull its other riders from the Tour in the wake of Moreni’s failed test.\nNews of Moreni’s test came a day after star rider Alexandre Vinokourov and his entire Astana team were sent home after he tested positive for a banned blood transfusion.\nMoreni was in 54th place overall at the end of Wednesday’s stage, 1 hour, 56 minutes and 11 seconds behind Rasmussen.\nThe test analysis for Moreni was conducted by the Chatenay-Malabry lab on the outskirts of Paris. Traces of testosterone were found in the urine sample, L’Equipe said. The test showed that the testosterone was administered, and that the hormone was not naturally occurring.\nMoreni’s failed doping test was the latest blow to a race already reeling from doping revelations.\nRasmussen, booed by fans at the start Wednesday, extended his lead in the three-week event.\nThe Danish cyclist crossed the finish line alone after the 135.8-mile ride from Orthez to Gourette-Col d’Aubisque, the toughest ride in the Pyrenees this year.\nAmerican Levi Leipheimer finished 26 seconds behind, and Discovery Channel teammate Alberto Contador of Spain was third, 35 seconds back. Both lost time against Rasmussen, who broke away from the three-man group in the last half-mile, finishing in 6 hours, 23 minutes, 21 seconds.\n“I am one step closer,” said Rasmussen, who also won Stage 8 in Tignes.\nThat’s worrisome to some fans and dozens of riders who staged a silent protest against the doping scandals in their sport – delaying the start by 13 minutes.\nPreviously, Tour rider Patrick Sinkewitz had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. Sinkewitz has denied doping and asked for his B sample to be tested, with the results expected to be known by July 29.\nSinkewitz tested positive in training on June 8 – a month before the Tour started – but he competed in the race until he crashed into a spectator during the eighth stage on July 15.\n–Associated Press Writers Jean-Luc Courthial in Gourette, France, and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
(04/19/07 4:00am)
MONTE CARLO, Monaco – \nRafael Nadal extended his winning streak on clay to 63 matches Wednesday after beating Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-1 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.\nNadal, the two-time defending French Open champion, is seeking his third straight Monte Carlo title. He has not lost on clay since Igor Andreev of Russia beat him in the quarterfinals of the Valencia Open in April 2005.\n“It was very nice to come back here and play the first match like this,” Nadal said. “I felt very well, very comfortable on court. I could have served a little bit better, but for the rest I’m very happy.”\nThe second-seeded Spaniard next plays Kristof Vliegen of Belgium – a repeat of last year’s third round match, which Nadal won in straight sets.\nAndreev beat fourth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Nadal and Andreev could meet again in Sunday’s final.\nRobin Soderling needed five match points before upsetting third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3. The Swede failed to convert his first match point when leading 5-4 in the second set, and then had another in the tiebreaker.\nIn the third set, Davydenko saved two more match points. But Soderling won on his fifth chance when Davydenko’s backhand was long.\nSoderling will next play Max Mirnyi, who beat Sergio Roitman of Argentina 7-5, 6-4.
(06/12/05 11:47pm)
SALLANCHES, France -- Another six weeks and it will be all over. Lance Armstrong will have retired from cycling, a beer in his hand and perhaps one big farewell bash to remember.\nHe will try to win his seventh straight Tour de France title next month. Win or lose, he steps off the bike for good July 24.\n"I'm going to drink my fair share of beer. Yeah, I can't lie," Armstrong told The Associated Press. "I'm excited, to be honest, to move on to other things."\nLast year, Armstrong headed to France with the pressure of winning a record sixth Tour. Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx have all won five. This year, there are no records left to beat. The 33-year-old Texan can only extend his own streak.\n"It's bittersweet. I feel less pressure than last year," Armstrong said. "This year my main motivation is that I want to end on a high note. In that way it could be more motivating than a big bonus or making history."\nArmstrong, whose successful battle against cancer has been one of the great inspirational stories, has another incentive to wear the yellow jersey down the Champs-Elysees.\n"My kids will be at the Tour and at the finish," he said. "I don't want my kids to see me riding into Paris in a Discovery jersey. It has to be yellow."\nWhen it's over, however, Armstrong will be happy to be done with doping accusations.\nShortly before last year's Tour, a book titled "LA Confidential, The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" was published and accused Armstrong of using banned substances. Armstrong has since taken legal action against authors David Walsh and Pierre Ballester.\n"When you're constantly on the top, you have a bull's-eye on your back," Armstrong said. "The target just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It's easier to shoot at, it's easier to throw things at. It might stick, it might not stick. You have to live with that. It comes with the territory."\nBefore every Tour, people try to predict who can beat Armstrong. Jan Ullrich and Alexandre Vinokourov are well-known contenders, and others like Ivan Basso and Jose Gomez Marchante have made an impact more recently.\nBut to Armstrong, the names become a blur.\n"Every year people ask for a list of 10 or 12 guys who can challenge," Armstrong said. "But do we really need a list? That's not the question. The question is how good I'm going to be. Am I going to be good enough to win? That's the question."\nArmstrong, who has been tuning up at the Dauphine Libere race this week, finished fourth overall Sunday. He was third in Wednesday's time trial and fourth in a key mountain stage Thursday.\n"His basic conditioning is very good," Discovery Channel team director Johan Bruyneel said. "Coming into the Dauphine Libere he lacked rhythm, but he can only improve from here. ... Lance is where he needs to be."\nArmstrong, who returns to train in the French Alps with teammates Jose Azevedo, Manuel Beltran and Jose Luis Rubiera next week, was more critical.\n"I wasn't explosive and wasn't able to make the selection, only to follow," Armstrong said. "But I know from here I can step up another level."\nIf Armstrong wins a seventh Tour, expect him to celebrate in style.\n"In my mind, it would be better to have a party," said Armstrong, whose girlfriend is rock star Sheryl Crow. "A real party, with like U2 playing, or the Rolling Stones ... something big. So, maybe I'll call Bono"
(07/17/03 12:48am)
MARSEILLE, France -- Ahead of the pack at the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong can't help but peek over his shoulder.\nThe four-time champion held the overall lead by a handful of seconds following Tuesday's 10th stage. He is by no means clear of the chasing pack just a few days before Friday's individual time trials.\n"It may be the most important time trial I've ever done," said Armstrong, who finished 45th Tuesday and is going for his record-tying fifth straight Tour victory.\n"I've been focusing a lot on the time trial this year in terms of training," Armstrong said. "I know the course pretty well."\nShowing signs of vulnerability in this year's centennial Tour, Armstrong was seriously challenged in the recent Alpine stages, he needs a good time trial more than usual. After Friday, Armstrong faces four grueling stages in the Pyrenees.\nA good performance in Friday's 29-mile race against the clock would give him a crucial time advantage to take into the mountains.\n"Lance usually makes a strong showing right from the start in the Alps, as if to say to his rivals, 'You've got to come and beat me,'" said Stephen Roche, a Tour winner in 1987.\n"But the fact he didn't means he couldn't do it. Don't forget, Armstrong is a year older now," Roche added.\nArmstrong is seeking to tie Spain's Miguel Indurain as the only cyclist ever to win cycling's showcase event five times in a row.\nThree others, Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil and Belgium's Eddy Merckx, also have won five Tours, but none did so consecutively.\nWith a rest day Wednesday to recover from a strenuous first half of the Tour, so far Armstrong has crashed, had technical difficulties with his bike and problems with his racing shoes, the 31-year-old heads into Thursday's 11th stage just 21 seconds ahead of Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov overall.\nSpain's Iban Mayo is only 1 minute, 2 seconds behind Armstrong, while Germany's Jan Ullrich, reputed as a rider who gets stronger in the second half of the race, is 2:10 back in sixth place overall.\n"Vinokourov is looking really good this year and I think he can win it," said Australian rider Baden Cooke.\nIn Tuesday's 10th stage, Armstrong finished in a large pack of riders who completed the 136-mile stage from Gap to the southern port city of Marseille way behind the winner, Denmark's Jakob Piil of Team CSC.\nHowever, all of Armstrong's key rivals finished with him, meaning they did not gain time on the champion.\nWith temperatures on the route hitting 104 degrees, Armstrong said he suffered in the unrelenting heat.\n"It's definitely the hottest Tour that most of us can remember," he said. "We've always had hot days but never so many in a row."\nWearing the leader's yellow jersey, Armstrong finished 21:23 behind Piil, who had never won a stage at the Tour.\nPiil was among the breakaway group of nine riders surging ahead of the main pack just 9.9 miles into the race. Their breakaway lasted more than 124 miles, the longest of this year's Tour.\nPiil beat Italian rider Fabio Sacchi of the Saeco team in a final sprint at the finish. Bram de Groot of the Netherlands, with the Rabobank team, was third.\n"I've been chasing a stage victory on the Tour for two years now," Piil said. "I finally have it."\nThe race was marked by a protest that forced the chasing pack of riders to a sudden halt after supporters of a jailed farmer, Jose Bove, ran onto the road near Pourrieres, about 91 miles into the race. Bove is serving jail time for destroying genetically modified crops.\nTour officials immediately ruled that the protest was "a normal race incident," meaning that the riders who lost time because of the protest would not get it back.\nOf the original field of 198 cyclists vying for Tour victory, only 141 riders started Tuesday. The most prominent rider to drop out was Joseba Beloki, who sustained multiple fractures in a downhill crash Monday. Before the accident, he was considered a major threat to Armstrong's chances for victory.