MONTLUCON, France -- Belgium's Serge Baguet won the 17th
stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, while Lance Armstrong
maintained a five-minute overall lead and remained on track for his
third straight championship.
|  | | Serge Baguet captures the 17th stage on Thursday. |
With just three days left in the three-week-long race, Baguet
edged Danish rider Jakob Piil in the final sprint to claim his
first stage win in the grueling event.
Armstrong finished in 32nd place with the main pack, 13 seconds
behind Baguet. He retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, with
an unchanged advantage of 5 minutes, 5 seconds over his closest
rival, Jan Ullrich of Germany. Kazakstan's Andrei Kivilev remained
third, 5:13 behind the American.
Armstrong's big lead means he is almost certain to collect a
third consecutive Tour title when the race finishes in Paris on
Sunday.
Baguet, who rides for the Lotto team, completed the 120.3-mile
stretch between Brive-la-Gaillarde and this town in central France
in 4:13:36.
The 32-year-old had never won a stage in his two previous Tours.
A former teenage cycling star, he retired from the professional
sport at the end of 1996 after winning only nine races in six
years. He worked as a tiler, riding only in his spare time, before
returning to high-level competition in 2000.
"It took a lot of sacrifice," Baguet said. "Only my wife
knows what it meant to come back. Now I know I can win. I want to
ride for another five or six years."
He crossed the line in Montlucon just ahead of Piil, who clocked
the same time, and was five seconds faster than third-place
Massimiliano Lelli of Italy.
The three were part of a group that broke from the main pack
early in the long, hot stage. The trio led the pack by up to 4:35
before losing ground in the closing stretch.
Baguet's win was the second this Tour for his Lotto team.
Teammate Rik Verbrugghe took Tuesday's stage from Pau to Lavaur.
Australian Stuart O'Grady kept the green jersey for the best
sprinter, although Germany's Erik Zabel reduced his deficit with
three stages to go.
Friday's stage is a tough 37.82-mile individual time-trial from
Montlucon to Saint-Amand-Montrond, in which Kivilev is likely to
face a strong challenge from Spain's Joseba Beloki for third place
overall.
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ALSO SEE
Ex-Roofer Baguet happy he returned to cycling
Tour de France: Day-by-day
Thursday's Tour de France results
Armstrong still cruising; Voigt wins stage
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