Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007220061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LAC DE VASSIVIERE, FRANCE LENGTH: Long
LeMond made up a five-second deficit to finish 2 minutes, 21 seconds ahead of Chiappucci.
With only today's largely ceremonial stage into Paris remaining, the American's lead of 2:16 virtually assures him of his second successive victory in the world's greatest bicycle race, barring disaster. It also would be LeMond's third victory in the Tour in five years.
"Today the Tour is finished," said Erik Breukink of the Netherlands, who won the time trial.
LeMond was not claiming victory, however. As he has reduced Chiappucci's lead, which was 7:27 on July 12, LeMond often has stated he will proclaim himself winner only after he crosses the final finish line on the Champs-Elysees.
"I'm very happy" was all LeMond would say immediately after Saturday's stage as he loosened the straps on his shoes. He has been reported to be suffering with foot blisters.
"I was very strong today," he said later. The American finished fifth overall in the race against the clock around a 45.5-kilometer (28-mile) course near Lake Vassiviere outside Limoges in the southwest part of France.
LeMond won the Tour last year by eight seconds when he made up a 50-second deficit in a time trial on the final day.
He refused to compare the two races, saying, "All Tours are different, tactically and in many other ways."
The winner of the stage, Breukink, who rides for the PDM team, finished in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 40 seconds on another scorching day. Second was his teammate, Mexican Raul Alcala, who trailed by 28 seconds.
Then came Marino Lejarreta, a Spaniard with the Once team, 38 seconds behind Breukink, with Miguel Indurain, a Spaniard with Banesto, fourth, 40 seconds behind.
LeMond was fifth, 57 seconds behind, and Chiappucci was 17th, 3:18 back. The Italian dropped to second overall, 13 seconds ahead of Breukink.
"I wasn't forcing it at the end because I was thinking about the overall standings, not the individual victory," LeMond said.
If he had pushed himself for the victory, LeMond would have run the risk of "exploding," as riders term the sudden loss of power and speed that follows overexertion.
Chiappucci showed signs of just such an explosion near the end.
Starting three minutes behind LeMond, he trailed him by ever-increasing gaps at every checkpoint.
At kilometer 10, LeMond was clocked in 14:02 and Chiappucci in 14:13. At kilometer 22, LeMond passed in 29:56 and Chiappucci in 30:27, a difference of 31 seconds. At kilometer 33, it was LeMond in 43:10 and Chiappucci in 44:27, or 1:17 behind.
When LeMond reached the finish line, Chiappucci was three kilometers back and trailing badly. As the Italian, who rides for Carerra, fell six seconds behind LeMond, the news was relayed to the American, who giggled nervously to hear that he was leading the Tour for the first time since it started June 30.
On the second day of the Tour, Chiappucci was part of a four-man breakaway that gained 10:35 over the rest of the 198-man field, including LeMond and all other early favorites.
The American had been whittling away at that lead ever since.
He looked calm and intense at the start Saturday, wearing his baby-blue Z team cap backward - "en bataille," as the French say, or ready for combat.
LeMond disdained most of his usual aerodynamic aids, using a regular road bicycle, not a plunging frame. He rode without disk wheels but with the clip-on, U-shaped extension of his handlebars that helped carry him to victory in the 1989 final time trial.
Many other riders used a rear disk wheel, and most had the clip-on bars.
Chiappucci rejected both the wheels and the bars. "It all depends on the legs," he said before the race, and he was partly right.
Since taking the yellow jersey from LeMond's teammate, Ronan Pensec, on July 12, he had relied on his strong climbing legs to survive several scares from LeMond.
More than legs were required, however, in Saturday's race.
This was a highly technical course, an often-narrow, twisting road with many small climbs and descents. The 157 remaining riders had to make dozens of decisions about when to shift gears while trying to keep as steady a rhythm as possible.
LeMond knew the course since he won a time trial over it in 1985, beating the overall Tour winner, Bernard Hinault, by five seconds, and recording the first victory by an American in a Tour stage.
He set off three minutes before Chiappucci, since the riders leave in a time trial in reverse order of standing. No cooperation between teammates is permitted and, if a rider catches the man who left before him, he may not ride immediately behind him and attempt to draft in the slipstream, thus saving up to 25 percent of his energy.
The course followed the banks of a lake only briefly before turning into the hills, where dark copses of pines and scrub oaks cast shadows onto the road.
Neither LeMond nor Chiappucci would have noticed the sidelong vistas, however, since the key to a time trial is concentration on the road. Riders liken the discipline to racing in a 100-meter tunnel that travels down the road.
by CNB