Tour de France : Roche Beats Delgado in Time Trial, Takes Overall Lead

DIJON, France — Ireland’s Stephen Roche defeated Spaniard Pedro Delgado in an individual time trial Saturday to take the overall lead by 40 seconds entering the final stage of the 74th Tour de France bicycle race.

France’s Jean-Francois Bernard won the 23.5-mile time trial here in 48 minutes 17 seconds, with Roche second in 50:01 and Spain’s Marino Lajaretta third in 50:45.

Delgado led Roche by 21 seconds going into the time trial but finished seventh, 61 seconds behind the Irishman, to give up the race leader’s yellow jersey he had held for four days.

Roche merely has to avoid mishaps, such as a fall or a puncture, in today’s 119-mile 25th and final stage into Paris to be virtually assured of victory in the world’s most prestigious cycle race.

He and his Carrera teammates will be wary of breakaways by Delgado or Bernard, who improved his position to third overall, 2:13 back.

“Frankly, (beating Delgado) by 22 seconds would have been enough for me,” said Roche, who is trying to become only the fifth rider in history to win the Tours of Italy and France in the same year.

“It would have been better to have a bigger lead because now I have to watch out for punctures or whatever, but I’m glad to have the lead I’ve got.”

Delgado, the PDM team leader, took the overall lead with a stunning performance on five stages in the Alps last week. But Roche produced outstanding performances Thursday and Friday to cut the Spaniard’s lead.

Roche was expected to defeat Delgado, a mountain specialist, in the mainly flat time trial. He gained five seconds on Delgado on the first mile and steadily increased his lead with a smooth ride generally against the wind in a light rain.

“I’m disappointed, but I knew that Roche was much stronger than me on the time trials,” Delgado said. “Twenty-one seconds is just not enough of a lead for me on a time trial.”

Bernard was overpowering in winning his second stage and his second time trial of the Tour. Bernard, who won the 18th stage at Mont Ventoux, joined compatriot Regis Clere and Holland’s Jean-Paul Van Poppel as winners of two stages of the Tour.

“With my performance today, I think I proved that I’m as strong as Roche or Delgado and I still have a chance,” said Bernard, who succeeded injured defending champion Greg Lemond of the United States as leader of the Toshiba team.

The race, which began July 1 in West Berlin, ends with a flat stage into the capital and the traditional six laps of the Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris.