ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605130060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREENVILLE, S. C.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chris Horner, a first-year cycling pro from San Diego, edged veteran Nate Reiss of Fort Collins, Colo., by inches to win the closest stage of the Tour DuPont on Friday.
Lance Armstrong kept his leader's jersey for the ninth day.
While temperatures exceeded 90 degrees for the second straight day, Horner, 24, who rides for NutraFig, outmaneuvered Reiss in the final 100 yards. Horner claimed the 118.2-mile Rock Hill to Greenville road race in 5 hours, 4 minutes, 39 seconds.
Armstrong, who assumed the lead after winning Stage 2 on May 2, again rode surrounded by his teammates en route to finishing 29th in the main field, 3:57 behind the winner. (Results in Scoreboard. B5)
The 1993 world road race champion and defending race titlist still leads Pascal Herve of France (Festina), who placed 17th, by 1:58 with only two stages of the 12-stage race remaining.
Tony Rominger of Switzerland, the world's No.2 ranked cyclist, remained third, 5:08 behind, after finishing 18th in the main field.
``Yes, it's definitely the biggest win of my career,'' said Horner, who is competing in the event for the first time and became the only U.S. rider other than Armstrong to win a stage this year. ``Just after the sprint, [the field] let us go, and I thought, `Maybe we'll be going for a win.'''
Horner's victory improved him only from 23rd to 22nd place overall, 19:17 behind.
Rob Mulders of the Netherlands (Collstrop) finished third in 5:08:09.
``All I know is there's two days to go,'' said Armstrong, who has won four stages.
Horner left the field after 20 miles following a bonus time sprint. Reiss joined the leader three miles later. Since neither of the two were in contention for the overall title, the duo was allowed to build its lead to 11:40.
The main field eventually began to pursue the leaders and narrowed the deficit to less than six minutes. But when the two leaders began the final 16 miles of four finishing circuits, the lead had increased to eight minutes.
``What can you say?,'' said Reiss (U.S. Postal Service), who last won a stage in 1990 when the race was called the Tour de Trump. ``It was by the width of a tire. If you had to play it again, I would have won.''
The $260,000, 12-day event continues today with the 148.2-mile Clemson, S.C. to Marietta, Ga., road race, the longest stage of the event. A 9.1-mile individual time trial concludes the event Sunday in Marietta.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Chris Horner of Team Nutrafig became the second U.S.by CNBcyclist to win a Tour DuPont stage when he was victorious in Stage
10 on Friday. color