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You are in: Special Events: 2001: Tour de France |
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Saturday, 21 July, 2001, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK
Armstrong tribute to Casartelli
Armstrong is chasing a hat-trick of Tour wins
Lance Armstrong dedicated an emotional stage victory to former team-mate Fabio Casartelli, who was killed riding in the Tour de France six years ago.
Armstrong's win gave him the overall lead in the race and he admitted afterwards he had been spurred on by the memory of the Italian. Casartelli, who rode with the American for Motorola, died after crashing on the descent of the Portet d'Aspet, which featured in Saturday's 194km 13th stage from Foix to Saint-Lary-Soulan. "It's good to win, but the most special thing for me was thinking about Fabio. I won for him," said Armstrong. "It's always difficult for me, especially when I passed by his monument.
"I've passed by it in training a lot, but never in a race. The win is absolutely for him." The US Postal rider raced ahead of long-time stage leader Laurent Jalabert on the final climb and then produced a devastating burst to pull clear of his main rival Jan Ullrich. It was enough to give him the yellow jersey, but Armstrong was quick to praise Francois Simon, who started the day in front. "Bravo for Simon - he's been a good rider in the yellow jersey, and is a big fighter. Today was a really difficult stage," said the American. The 29-year-old, who is chasing a hat-trick of Tour wins, finished in a time of 5hr 44min 22sec, with his main rival Jan Ullrich a minute behind in second. Ullrich had looked set to attack Armstrong toward the end of the stage but came unstuck when he misjudged a bend and rode into a ditch.
The American carried on but glanced round at his rival before taking off to chase Joseba Beloki, who had capitalised on Ullrich's misfortune to speed ahead. "I asked him if he was okay. I got a front row seat on what happened," said Armstrong. "It was the professional and honourable thing to do to wait but once I got the message on my radio that he was okay I continued racing." Ullrich was able to remount and catch Armstrong but couldn't stay with him at the end. It leaves Armstrong with a lead of nearly four minutes over Russian Andrei Kivilev. Simon is third with Ullrich fourth, five minutes off the pace.
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