Angoulême, France - Sandy Casar of France captured Stage 18 of the Tour de France on Friday, while Spain’s Alberto Contador remained the overall leader heading into the final weekend of cycling’s most prestigious event.
Graffiti Wall reports that Casar completed the 211-kilometer trek from Cahors to Angoulême in a time of five hours, 13 minutes and 31 seconds, outsprinting a trio of three other riders to the wire.
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Belgium’s Axel Merckx, Frenchman Laurent Lefevre and Dutchman Michael Boogerd were the next three finishers, all one second behind Casar, who notched his first-ever stage victory and became the second Frenchman to win a stage in this year’s Tour. Casar finished second to countrymate Cedric Vasseur last Wednesday in Stage 10.
Contador, meanwhile, finished Friday’s stage in 16th place and saw his overall lead trimmed by three seconds. Australia’s Cadel Evans was 14th on Friday and is now one minute, 50 seconds off the pace. American Levi Leipheimer is still third, 2:49 behind, as he finished in the same group with Contador.
Saturday’s 19th stage will likely determine this year’s Tour de France winner. A 55.5-kilometer time trial is on tap for the Tour’s penultimate day.
“I’m not a time trial specialist, but I’m going to absolutely all I can to try and not lose one minute 50 seconds,” said Contador. “The stage today went perfectly well despite the length; we rode at a rather good pace as opposed to yesterday when it was a lot harder even though the finish was manageable. It’s really important to rest and have a tranquil day before tomorrow’s really important time trial.”
After Saturday’s stage, the 2007 edition of the Tour will close Sunday with a 146-kilometer ride that concludes with the traditional finish along the Champs Elysees in Paris.
This year’s event has again lost some of its luster in the wake of recent doping-related expulsions, including Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen, who led the overall standings before removed from the race by his team on Wednesday night.
Rasmussen’s Rabobank team required the Danish rider to leave the race after discovering he lied of his whereabouts during his training in June. Rasmussen was apparently supposed to be training in Mexico, but the team later found out he was in Italy during a time when he reportedly missed random drug tests.
It was the third notable doping-related dismissal from the Tour in just two days. Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana team left the Tour on Tuesday after accusations of doping and the Cofidis team abandoned earlier Wednesday after Italy’s Cristian Moreni apparently tested positive for testosterone following the 11th stage of the Tour last week.
Last year’s Tour also came under scrutiny after American Floyd Landis’ victory was clouded by doping suspicions.
