B4 N SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014 SPORTS THE NEWS VIRGINIAN N newsvirginian.com Nibali set to win Tour, with 2 Frenchmen on podium The Associated Press Tour de Stage 20 PERIGUEUX, France — Final- ly cracking broad smiles after The Associated Press weeks of no-nonsense racing, confirmed he PERIGUEUX, France — A will win the af- brief look at the 20th stage of ter another impressive ride in a the Tour de France on Satur- dramatic penultimate stage on day: Saturday. The stage: A 54-kilometer Nibali all but ensured he will (33.6-mile) individual time be crowned Tour champion for trial over rolling hills between the fi rst time thanks to win- Bergerac and Perigueux in ning the last mountain stage southwest France. on Thursday. But a desire to Winner: . The leave nothing to chance, even three-time world time trial with the biggest overall lead in champion clobbered the 17 years, saw him push himself fi eld, fi nishing in 1 hour, 6 in the for minutes and 21 seconds. fourth place behind winner and Runner-up , German speedster Tony Martin. the Dutch time trial champi- In doing so, the rider they call on, crossed the line 1:39 later “The Shark” padded his overall to fi nish second. Czech time lead on Stage 20 by more than trial champion Jan Barta was 40 seconds to nearly eight min- third, 1:47 behind. utes. Yellow jersey: Vincenzo Ni- He grabbed the yellow jersey bali further extended his lead on Stage 2 almost three weeks on the penultimate stage, ago, and has worn it for all but and holds an unassailable two stages. A largely ceremonial 7:52 lead over Frenchman fi nal ride into awaits on THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jean-Christophe Peraud go- Sunday. Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium of the twentieth stage ing into Sunday’s largely cer- “It’s really difficult to explain of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time-trial over 54 kilometers (33.6 miles) with start in Bergerac emonial ride to Paris. Fellow and fi nish in Perigueux, France on Saturday. all the emotions that I’ve gone French rider is through in these last three The duo did enough to leave deficit of 2 minutes, 7 seconds ted on his bike’s top tube to re- third, 8:24 behind. weeks. But as time goes by, behind an unlucky Alejandro to by two sec- duce wind drag on the descents. Quote of the day: “I never maybe I’ll fi nd the words to de- Valverde of Spain in their three- onds. The young French rider Sweat trickled down his nose think about entering history.” scribe what I’m feeling,” Nibali man race for the fi nal podium. lost key seconds after blowing a and off his chin. - Nibali, asked about winning said through a translator. “Per- Only 15 seconds separated fl at at the end of the stage. Martin overtook the rider the Tour for the fi rst time. haps on the Champs-Elysees, them when the stage began in The last stage is also fl at, and who started two minutes before Stat of the day: 30. The I’ll realize a little bit more. Bergerac, but it became more the teams of Nibali, Peraud and him by about the 15-kilometer number of years since two “This year was a great race. It than two minutes when the Pinot will be hawking over any point. Four kilometers later, he Frenchmen stood on the was almost made to measure for time trial fi nished in Perigueux. breakaway attempts, so it’s not already had a 35-second lead on Tour’s fi nal podium in Paris. me,” he said of the ride through Peraud, a 37-year-old former expected to be a competitive the fastest man up to that point: Next stage: A 137.5-kilome- the hills and dales of Yorkshire, mountain bike racer, became ride among the podium trio, Czech time trial champion Jan ter (85-mile) largely ceremo- England, over cobblestones tearful at the fi nish after learn- and Champagne bottles are Barta. nial procession from Evry to in northern France, and over ing he would be the Tour run- likely to be popped during the At the end, he fi nished 1:39 Paris. After nine laps of the mountain passes in the Alps ner-up: “It’s beautiful,” he said. ride. faster than Dutch rider Tom Champs Elysees, sprinters and Pyrenees. The Beijing Olympic silver Martin, the world time trial Dumoulin in second, and Barta such as , Peter For days, Nibali’s domination medalist also teared up during champion, blistered the fi eld was third, eight seconds slower. Sagan and Alexander Kristoff has reduced the drama to who a news conference. “Now, I can over the 54-kilometer (34-mile) “I had a really good feeling will look to leave their mark would join him on the fi nal retire,” Peraud said. leg on Saturday. right from the beginning that in the fi nale of the 101st podium on Sunday. The Stage Because Valverde had a bad Pedaling with his body curled this could be my day,” said Mar- Tour. 20 time trial solved that: Jean- day, Peraud, who even blew a up in a tight ball, with the aero- tin, who also won Stage 9, in a Christophe Peraud and Thibaut fl at and had to change bikes, dynamic rear disk wheel bear- breakaway. Nibali, one of the world’s best Pinot. losing about 20 seconds, and ing the rainbow-colored stripes Nibali was fourth, 1:58 back, time-trialers, blew it. They will be the fi rst French- Pinot were able to shade him. earned by the world champion, Peraud was seventh, Pinot Overall, the Italian leads by man to medal in France’s be- Also, American Tejay van Gar- he maintained a steady pace 12th, and Valverde 28th. There 7:52 over Peraud, and 8:24 over loved race since Richard Vi- deren climbed a spot from sixth on the fl ats, hugged the edge of was little chance of the overall Pinot. Valverde, in fourth, was renque in 1997. to fi fth overall by overcoming a the road on curves, and squat- standings changing, not unless 9:55 back. SOCA

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