| | Associated Press
VILLENEUVE-SUR-LOT, France -- Lance Armstrong, preparing for
next week's mountain stretch, remained in contention in the Tour de
France Saturday, a day on which Holland's Erik Dekker won the
eighth stage of race.
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Erik Dekker strains on his way to winning the eighth stage. |
Armstrong, the defending champion, is 16th, nearly six minutes
behind overall leader Alberto Elli of Italy. But Armstrong is in a
group with most of his main challengers for the title, and appeared
well-placed.
The 28-year-old Texan will look for another comfortable ride in
Sunday's ninth stage, a flat 112-mile course from Agen to Dax,
before he gets his chance to climb the leaderboard during the
mountain stages, which begin Monday.
Dekker won the hilly 126-mile trek from Limoges to
Villeneuve-sur-Lot in southwest France in four hours, 22 minutes 14
seconds. Xavier Jan of France came second, 52 seconds back, with
Jose-Vicente Garcia-Acosta of Spain third, 56 seconds behind the winner.
Fred Rodriguez of the United States came in fourth, 58 seconds
behind Dekker. Elli is 12 seconds ahead of Fabrice Gougot of France and 1:17
ahead of Belgium's Marc Wauters in third.
Armstrong, looking to become the first rider since Miguel
Indurain in 1995 to retain the Tour title, fell four places to 16th
place but is still 5:54 behind Elli.
Laurent Jalabert, the former world No. 1, is in 14th, 14 seconds
ahead of Armstrong. Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner,
dropped six places to 28th, 6:37 behind Elli while 1998 Tour winner
Marco Pantani is in 87th, 11:06 behind the leader.
Dekker, who started the day back in 164th place in the
standings, said his win in Villeneuve-sur-Lot was "emotionally the
best win of my career."
The Dutchman had decided to be aggressive before the stage even
began. "I have always wanted to win an important race such as a World
Cup or Tour de France leg and now I have done it."
Dekker was among a group of 17 riders that opened up a gap in
mile 34 and kept clear for most of the race.
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Tour de France results
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Erik Dekker secures Stage 8 for Rabobank. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
avi: 1649 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Stage 8 course map
RealVideo: 28.8
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