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Tuesday, September 26
American strategy falls apart
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Lance Armstrong admitted this wasn't
his race and the results proved it.
The two-time Tour de France champion finished 13th in the
Olympics road race, beaten by his longtime cycling rival and fellow
Tour winner Jan Ullrich of Germany.
Armstrong held back his attack until late in the race -- but it
was too late.
"In the end, it was harder than I thought," Armstrong said.
"I waited too long, but that's the way races go. I thought the
team was strong. We tried to put ourselves in a good place, and if
it worked out, great."
Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997 and finished second three
times, was timed in 5 hours, 29 minutes, 8 seconds. Alexander
Vinokourov of Kazakstan won the silver and Andreas Kloeden of
Germany the bronze.
Long a dominant rider who has struggled with weight problems,
Ullrich pulled away from the pack midway through the 12th of 14
laps and never got caught in the 148-mile event.
Armstrong, the winner of the last two Tours, crossed the line in
a pack 1:29 behind Ullrich. George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C.,
was eighth, 1:26 behind the winner.
Armstrong has yet to compete in the race that he is favored to
win -- the individual time trial on Saturday (Friday night EDT).
Coming to Sydney, he targeted his training for that event.
Hincapie, who was critical to Armstrong's two Tour titles as a
fellow member of the U.S. Postal Service team, was in third place
with one lap to go appeared to be looking for Armstrong.
But Armstrong was out of sight at the back of the peloton, some
30 seconds behind the leaders. He finally attacked, drawing cheers
at the start-finish area when his move was announced to the crowd.
Actually, the plan was for Hincapie to set up the race for Fred
Rodriguez, who finished 34th. Rodriguez, known for his sprinting
speed, had three top-five finishes riding for the Mapei team in
Tour stages last summer.
"The plan was to get Fred out, and then get George out,"
Armstrong said.
If Armstrong was in a position to win, he also was clear to make
a run. But the strategy unraveled when Rodriguez had to change a
tire shortly after starting the 12th of 14 laps in fifth place.
With one lap remaining, Armstrong came around the start-finish
area thinking the American game plan would play out perfectly. He
had conserved himself for a strong finish and he knew Rodriguez
also had the speed to compete.
Then he glanced at the huge video screen and saw the Germans
pulling away.
"I thought, 'This is great. We've put ourselves in a position
to win gold,' " Armstrong said. "Then I looked up at the screen
and said, 'Who are those guys?' And they went away before George
caught up."
Armstrong and Hincapie finally connected with about three miles
to go, but it was too late. By then, Ullrich was powering his way
to victory aided by help from Kloeden.
After a rainy morning, the clouds broke and the cyclists rode
under sunny skies. Although several riders took turns leading the
field, nobody made a serious move until four laps remained.
That's when Marc Wauters of Belgium, Jens Voigt of Germany and
Max van Heeswijk of the Netherlands broke away.
But Voigt was setting the table for his teammates. Kloeden and
Ullrich stormed up to the front midway through the 13th lap.
Riding in the Olympics for the third time, Armstrong finished
close to where he placed in the previous two.
He was 12th in the road race in Atlanta and 14th in Barcelona.
In Atlanta, he also placed sixth in the time trial at a time he was
unwittingly suffering from testicular cancer.
Armstrong rose to the top of his sport by winning the Tour de
France in 1999, capping a remarkable comeback. The disease had
spread to his lungs and brain by the time it was detected in
October 1996.
He came to Sydney focused on winning a gold medal and now it
will have to come in the time trial -- the event he was focusing on.
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