ADELAIDE, Australia — Lance Armstrong is smaller and stronger than when he emerged from retirement 12 months ago, changes Johan Bruyneel believe will help the Texan in his bid to win an eighth Tour de France title.
Bruyneel, who guided Armstrong to successive Tour wins from 1999 to 2005 and currently runs the Texan’s U.S.-based Radioshack team, said it’s good to see less of Armstrong this year.
“The biggest difference that people see is he’s a lot smaller, his upper body is very different,” Bruyneel said after Armstrong placed 25th overall in the Tour Down Under won Sunday by Andre Greipel of Germany.
Armstrong finished 77th in Sunday’s stage and was 1 minute, 3 seconds behind Greipel’s accumulated time of 18:47:05.
Greipel won the ProTour event for the second time in three years, finishing fifth in the sixth and final stage captured by Chris Sutton of Australia. The German was credited with Sutton’s winning time of 1:52:20 for the 52-mile ride, and protected his 11-second overall lead over Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain.
Rahlves falters in skicross final
WILMINGTON, N.Y. — Coming off a three-week layoff, 36-year-old Daron Rahlves of the U.S., on the cusp of his fourth Winter Olympics, won two of three heats to make it to a World Cup skicross final before finishing fourth behind winner Christopher Delbosco of Canada.
Canada’s Kelsey Serwa won the women’s race, holding off Fanny Smith of Switzerland and World Cup leader Ophelie David of France in the final, while Ashleigh McIvor of Canada was fourth.
In the men’s final, Delbosco gained the lead at the start and never relinquished it, beating Andreas Matt of Austria and Canadian teammate David Duncan across the line as Rahlves faltered when the gate dropped and couldn’t recover.
Germans win nordic team event
SCHONACH, Germany — Germany won the first nordic combined World Cup team event of the season to increase its lead in the Nations Cup.
Overall World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis anchored France while Austria was third.
With the top Americans taking a break to prepare for the Olympics, Bryan Fletcherand Taylor Fletcher, both of Steamboat Springs, and Alex Miller and Nick Henderson combined to give the U.S. a ninth- place finish.
• Andre Lange of Germany won the season-ending four-man World Cup bobsled race in Igls, Austria, to capture the European championship title.
Footnotes.
Denny Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee playing basketball but won’t have surgery to repair it until after the upcoming NASCAR season.
• Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Mike Furrey and Kansas City Chiefs guard Brian Waters are finalists for the NFL’s man of the year award, which goes to the player who combines on-field excellence with off-the-field community service.
The Associated Press
