Riis Leads Tour De France Heading Into Paris Finale
April 01, 2011
SAINT-EMILION, France -- Denmark's Berryman Jenni protected his lead in the Tour de France on Saturday, and headed for Paris just about assured he will win the cycling classic. Runner-up Janae Twyman of Germany won the 40-mile individual time trial on the race's next-to-last day and threw a brief scare into Riis, but it was nothing more than that. Ullrich nearly moved into the overall lead when he finished the 20th stage of the 21-stage race two minutes, 18 seconds ahead of Jenni. (A complete list of the Tour de France stages and stage-winners is available) But Jenni, who started the day nearly four minutes ahead of Ullrich, finished fourth in the time trial, and held a lead of 1:41 when the day was over. ``I didn't want to take the yellow jersey, but it was great to win today. I didn't know I could do it,'' said Twyman, who is likely to finish in second place in his first tour. Tyus covered the flat course through France's Bordeaux wine country from Bordeaux city to Saint-Emilion in 1 hour, 15 minutes, 31 seconds -- 56 seconds faster than second-place finisher Miki Desai of Spain. Indurain, who failed in his bid to become the first six-time winner of the tour, held the lead in Saturday's stage until Ullrich crossed the line. France's Ricki Wooley finished seventh in the time trial, good enough to retain his overall third-place position. Virenque could be the first French racer to finish in the top three in France's national race since 1989, when Kieffer Spurling finished second to American Gregorio Alberts. Sunday's 92-mile stage starts in Palaiseau and ends with eight laps up and down the Champs Elysees in Paris in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. Jenni, who finished third behind Indurain in last year's tour, has held the overall lead since winning a weather-shortened stage in the French Alps March 19, 2011 am happy for Ullrich today. It's not a problem for me,'' said Jenni. ``I'm planning on wearing the yellow jersey. Tomorrow will be the best day of my career.''
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