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| | Saturday, July 22 Notebook: Nine teams still winless | ||||||
| By Andrew Hood ABC Sports Online FREIBURG, Germany -- Nine teams still haven't won a stage in this year's Tour de France. Saeco was among that list, but Salvatore Commesso saved the day for the Italian squad on Thursday. The teams are the U.S. Postal Service (four second places with Lance Armstrong), Deutsche Telekom, Farm Frites, Lotto, Francaise des Jeux, Memory Card, Credit Agricole, Vini Caldirola and Bonjour. Rabobank has the most wins with four, followed by Mapei with three, Kelme and Mercatone Uno with two each. Saeco, Cofidis, ONCE, Festina, AG2R, Polti and Banesto each have notched one stage victory.
This year's Tour de France is harder than last year's. All you have to do is look at the start list. Last year, 141 riders finished the Tour, but so far through 18 stages, there's been plenty of casualties. At the end of Thursday's stage, only 129 riders remain in the race after Leonardo Piepoli of Banesto abandoned. The U.S. Postal Service team is the only team with its full lineup going in to the final stages of the Tour. How they stand How the Tour favorites rank after Thursday's stage: Lance Armstrong: 1st overall Jan Ullrich: 2nd overall, 5:37 behind Richard Virenque: 5th overall, 7:36 behind Bobby Julich: 50th overall, 1:37:40 behind Laurent Jalabert: 58th overall, 1:52:17 behind Marco Pantani and Alex Zülle abandoned the Tour at stage 17, while Chann McRae dropped out of the Tour at stage 12. The jerseys: Lance Armstrong retained the overall leaders yellow jersey. Erik Zabel retained the green points jersey. Santiago Botero retained the polka-dot climbers jersey. Francisco Mancebo retained the under-25 white jersey. Kelme took the lead of the team competition Tuesday. Tomorrow's stage: Friday's 36-mile individual time trial from Freiburg to Mulhouse is the final race against the clock this year. Lance Armstrong won all three time trials in last year's Tour and will be hungry to win again. | ALSO SEE Armstrong three days from second Tour victory | ||||||
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