ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605060125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N. C.
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
LANCE ARMSTRONG does his thing again in a Tour DuPont time trial.
Bill Dooley stood under a tree Friday at the Salisbury Street finish line to hide from the sun and look at what his last three years of work had wrought. The former Virginia Tech football coach and athletic director, now director of sports for the state of North Carolina, helped bring the Tour DuPont to Raleigh for the first time in the event's eight-year history.
He marveled at the whoosh of riders as they finished their road race from Emporia, Va. But he wasn't sure what to make of what was coming next, the 7.1-mile time trial.
``To tell you the truth,'' he said, ``I semi-understand it ... And semi-understanding it can be dangerous.''
If he had been in the Roanoke Valley the past two years, he might not have recognized today's time trial. It was all smooth, fairly flat roads, and less than one-third the distance of the 1995 Roanoke Valley sprint that hopped from one mountaintop to mountaintop.
``It's completely different,'' said yellow jersey owner Lance Armstrong, who set a Tour DuPont record by averaging 32.89 mph in Friday's time trial.
Nevertheless, he continued, ``The time trial in Roanoke is preferable for me as far as the course. This one wasn't.''
Armstrong wasn't the only rider who saw a difference. Brett Dennis, an Australian rider for Giant-A.I.S., spoke wistfully of the Roanoke Valley time trial's characteristics; unbelievable considering a gruesome 1994 time-trial spill on Mount Chestnut landed him in a Roanoke-area hospital. ``I prefer longer time trials,'' he said.
But Dennis and other riders had to make the best of the new Tour DuPont time trial.
Switzerland's Tony Rominger, the No. 2 rider in the world, did that Friday, taking nine seconds off the lead in his run. Then Armstrong, in his least preferable environment, beat Rominger by nearly 27 seconds.
But the fact that Rominger, making his first appearance in an American race, presented such a challenge was heartening to race organizers and fans alike. In the past, some top international riders, namely Gianni Bugno in 1992, entered only as a means of training for the Tour de France. Rominger has admitted his goal for the year is to win the Tour de France, held in July, but so far, his diverted attention has not shown.
``I looked at his bike and he had all that fancy stuff on it,'' Armstrong said. ``I thought `Uh-oh.'''
``Rominger's been going hard,'' said Steve Brunner, vice president of Medalist Sports, Inc., the race organizer. ``That's the best thing for the race, but it's the worst thing for Armstrong.''
The Raleigh scene, with a road race and time trial all in nine hours, was unique. It's been four years since the race included a road race and time trial on the same day. It was necessary because thus far the Tour has only featured flat, unchallenging terrain.
``We had to mix the race up a little bit,'' said Medalist president Mike Plant.
Such a doubleheader day won't happen in Roanoke in the near future, and probably never.
``It would probably have to be two days there,'' Brunner said. ``If you put two demanding stages in the same day, it wouldn't competitively work.''
If the response of the estimated 25,000 fans along the route means anything, the road race finish was the hit here Friday.
``The most exciting part is that last 400-meter sprint of the road race,'' said Raleigh mayor Tom Fetzer. ``It gives me chill bumps to watch that.''
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Defending Tour DuPont champion Lance Armstrong leadsby CNBthe pack during the third stage on Friday afternoon. Armstrong
retained the yellow jersey. color KEYWORDS: CYCLING