ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130173
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KENNESAW, GA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marcel Wust of Germany claimed his second sprint victory, and Lance Armstrong kept his race lead Saturday for the 10th straight day in the longest stage of the Tour DuPont.
Wust, 28, a triple stage winner of the 1995 Tour of Spain who rides for MX-Onda, emerged from more than a dozen riders and won the 148.2-mile Clemson, S.C., to Kennesaw road race. He claimed the 11th stage of the tour by an estimated four feet in 6 hours, 14 minutes, 36 seconds.
Sven Teutenberg of Germany (U.S. Postal Service), who claimed stage 9 in Charlotte, N.C., was second. Federico Colonna of Italy (Mapei-GB) placed third, both in the same time
Armstrong, 24, of Austin, Texas, placed 38th in the main field in the same time as the winner. He is now primed to win his second successive overall title in the event in which he finished 25th six years ago as a 19-year-old amateur.
Armstrong, the 1993 world road champion, holds a 1:58 lead over Pascal Herve of France (Festina) and a 5:08 margin over Tony Rominger of Switzerland (Mapei-GB), the world's No.2-ranked cyclist.
``I'm comfortable with tomorrow,'' said Armstrong, the team leader of Motorola. ``Judging by the first time trial, it should be a good course for me. I'm motivated because I don't want to go out like I did last year.''
Although he defeated Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia by 2 minutes overall last year, Armstrong finished fifth in the final-day time trial.
``I waited a little, but not too long,'' said Wust, who also won stage 3a in Raleigh, N.C. ``I didn't know what to expect, but when I saw that it was straight and slightly uphill, I knew it would be a good sprinter's finish.''
The final stage of the 1,225-mile journey through six states will be a 9.1-mile individual time trial from Marietta to Kennesaw.
``I don't think it will be a problem,'' said Jim Ochowicz, Armstrong's team director. ``I think [Armstrong] knows what he has to do, and he's motivated.''
Armstrong won the race's only other individual time trial in Raleigh, N.C., on May 3 in a event-record 32.89 mph, and is favored to win today. Herve finished 31st in the earlier time trial, 1:17 behind, and would be required to race 13 seconds per-mile faster than Armstrong or an estimated 3 mph faster.
Rominger is a superior time trialist, and finished second to Armstrong in the previous time trial. But the reigning Tour of Italy winner who was the world's top-ranked cyclist in 1993 and 1994, finished second to Armstrong, 23 seconds behind, in the first time trial.
Although several riders and small groups established brief leads, the field was largely content to ride together at about 22 mph until increasing the pace for the final one-third of the stage.
Tyler Hamilton of Marblehead, Mass., (U.S. Postal Service) built a 40-second lead, the largest of the day, after riding a seven-mile solo and taking a 40-second cushion at mile 140. But he was caught by the field with two miles left.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Germany's Marcel Wust sprints across the finish lineby CNBto win Stage 11 of the Tour DuPont in Marietta, Ga., on Saturday.
color KEYWORDS: CYCLING