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Armstrong shakes off some rivals
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/07/14 11:30  Shanghai Daily

  The Russian squad garnered the most gold and silver in the finals of the weeklong World Amateur Boxing Championships on Saturday at Bangkok's Nimibutr Gymnasium.

  Also shining were Cuban boxers, with three of the four who made it through to the finals grabbing top honors.

  Two golds went to Kazakh pugilists.

  Serguei Kazakov of Russia defeated China's Zou Shiming, 23-19, in the light flyweight category, but Zou made history by becoming his country's first boxer to advance so far in the world championships. He had upset defending champion Yan Barthelmy Varela of Cuba last Wednesday.

  "The fight was difficult," Zou said after the bout. "My opponent was young and his skills were that of a professional. But I was confident I would win because I trained very hard."

  "I'm confident he (Zou) will win something in the next Olympics," said Zou's coach Yue Yan. "I was very happy with his performance. The Chinese fans are very excited."

  Two Thai boxers pushed through to the finals, but only flyweight Somjitr Jongjohor attained the gold, beating Jerome Thomas of France, 24-17.

  In addition to besting Zou, the Russian juggernaut also saw light heavyweight Evgueni Makarenko defeat Magomed Azipgadzhiev of Belarus, 29-11, and super heavyweight Aleksandr Povetkin beat Cuba's Pedro Carrion Sago, 29-27.

  Settling for silver among the Russians were bantamweight Gennadi Kovalev, who was beaten 8-17 by Aghasi Mamedov of Azerbaijan; light welterweight Alexandre Maletin, who lost to Willy Blain of France, 13-32; and heavyweight Alexandre Alexseev, who went down to Cuba's Odlanier Solis Fonte, 15-18.

  Cuba's squad suffered several unexpected losses during the tournament, but in addition to Solis' victory, salvaged its pride with gold medal performances by lightweight Mario Kindelan Mesa, who beat Thailand's Pichai Sayotha, 45-27, and welterweight Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros, who defeated Sherzod Husanov of Uzbekistan, 17-9.

  Kazakhstan's two gold medal winners were featherweight Galib Jaffarov, who bested Vitali Tajbert of Germany, 43-35, and middleweight Gennadi Golovkin, who beat Ukraine's Oleg Mashkin in the second round when the referee stopped the contest because of a sharp cut under Mashkin's left eye.

  Legs whirring, shirt open, a silver chain bouncing against his chest, Lance Armstrong powered up the first monster climb of the Tour de France, fans' cheers ringing in his ears.

  By the top of the Col de la Ramaz, at 1,619 meters where trees barely grow, two riders viewed as threats to Armstrong's quest for a record-equaling fifth Tour title were struggling far behind. Other key challengers, however, clung grimly to his wheels.

  Clearly, the road to Paris and victory is going to be long.

  Enduring to the end, Richard Virenque of France held on to win the grueling seventh stage on Saturday, the Tour's longest and the first of seven days in the punishing mountains.

  Virenque, still a darling of French cycling fans despite his involvement in a doping scandal that rocked the 1998 Tour, grabbed both the front-runner's yellow jersey and the spotted jersey for the best mountain climber when he swept into the ski resort of Morzine.

  "It's magic," said the 33-year-old rider for the Quick Step-Davitamon team.

  Armstrong, the four-time winner aiming to equal Spanish champion Miguel Indurain's five successive victories, was 4 minutes and 6 seconds behind in 15th place. He is lying second overall, 2 minutes, 37 seconds behind Virenque, with 13 days of racing to go.

  On the 14.3-kilometer climb up to the Ramaz pass, the 31-year-old Texan showed the determination that makes him so feared.

  With gray cliff faces towering above, Armstrong and his US Postal Service teammates piled on the pace. Armstrong removed his sunglasses, uncovering eyes almost glazed in concentration.

  Behind, exhausted riders began to peel away. Among them: Gilberto Simoni, this year's Giro d'Italia winner, and Colombian Santiago Botero, the best climber on the 2000 Tour. By the finish, both had lost over six minutes to Armstrong, with Botero placing 74th and Simoni 77th.

  "It was good," said Armstrong's spokesman, Jogi Muller. "We already have two challengers - Botero and Simoni - out of the reckoning."Now for the rest.

  The 1997 Tour winner, Jan Ullrich of Germany, Spaniards Iban Mayo and Joseba Beloki and American Tyler Hamilton, racing grittily on with a collarbone fractured in a crash on the Tour's second day, stuck with Armstrong.

  Ullrich, coming back from a doping ban and knee operations, looks particu-larly strong. He trails Arm-strong by 38 seconds overall. Beloki, the 2002 Tour runner-up, is 32 seconds behind.

  Yesterday was a key day, as the towering 2,645-meter Galibier pass beckons.

  At 230.5 km, with three passes over 1,000 meters, Saturday's trek from Lyon and summer temperatures that topped 30 degrees Celsius proved too much for seven riders who dropped out. They included Italy's Alessandro Petacchi, the sprint sensation of this Tour, who had earlier taken four of six relatively flat and fast early stages.

  Tens of thousands of people lined the route through Alpine foothills and passes, turning the stage into a daylong celebration.

  Virenque broke away with a small group of riders early in the day and held on, powering over the Ramaz pass and leaving others in his wake. He raised his arms in victory as he crossed the line at Morzine. Last year, he won the infamous climb up the Mont Ventoux.

  Virenque was a member of the Festina team that was ejected from the 1998 Tour after customs officers found a large stash of banned drugs in a team car.

  In a trial that followed, Virenque caused a furor with testimony on systematic drug abuse within his team and cycling in general.




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