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Time trial to decide winner of Tour marred by doping
2007-07-28
The battle between leader Alberto Contador and second-placed Cadel Evans in Saturday's time trial will put a virtual end to a Tour de France once again rocked by doping. The 24-year-old Spaniard leads his Australian rival by one minute and 50 seconds but Evans should have the edge in the solo effort on the Tour's penultimate stage. The Predictor Lotto rider beat Contador by 1:04 on Albi's bumpy course in last Saturday's time trial. In the Tour de Romandie last year, on a hilly course, Contador was leading Evans by 24 seconds before the 20-km time trial. The Australian eventually prevailed when he beat the Spaniard by 51 seconds. On Saturday, he will have 55.5 km on flat roads to clinch the overall win. However, Contador will be ready for the stage of his life. "I am quickly going to the hotel where I will have a massage and then dinner," the Discovery Channel rider told reporters after Friday's 18th stage from Cahors. "I will then watch a movie with my team mate Benjamin Noval and we will wake up early tomorrow to see the course of the time trial. "Having the yellow jersey is an extra motivation. It will be the hardest day of my career. It can change my life," Contador added. Team mate Levi Leipheimer of the U.S. is set to retain his third place overall when he starts the stage with an advantage of 3:13 over Spaniard Carlos Sastre of the CSC team. There will be only 141 of the 189 starters taking part in the stage after the Tour scandals. The Cofidis team quit on Wednesday after Italian Cristian Moreni tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, one day after Astana had pulled out following Alexander Vinokourov's positive test for blood doping. Previous leader Michael Rasmussen will also be missing after being sacked by his Rabobank team. The Dane left the race after the Dutch team found out that he had lied about his training whereabouts.
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