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Pulling away Ullrich rides to men's road race goldLatest: Thursday October 12, 2000 03:16 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Jan Ullrich of Germany won the Olympic road race Wednesday. Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997 and finished second twice, was timed in 5 hours, 29 minutes, 8 seconds. Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakstan won the silver and Andreas Koeden of Germany the bronze. Ullrich pulled away midway through the 12th of 14 laps to take gold in the 148-mile event. American Lance Armstrong, the two-time Tour champion, finished 13th, crossing the line in a pack 1:29 behind Ullrich. The American strategy appeared to unravel. George Hincapie, who was critical to Armstrong's two Tour titles as a fellow member of the U.S. Postal Service team, was in third place with one lap to go. But after finishing the main straight, Hincapie sat up and turned to look back. Later in the final lap, he looked back several times and slowed to find the American designated as the main rider. Was it supposed to be Armstrong? Or perhaps Fred Rodriguez, who was in fifth place with two laps to go before stopping to change a wheel. At the same time, Armstrong was out of sight at the back of the peloton, some 30 seconds behind the leaders. He attacked, drawing cheers at the start-finish area when his move was announced to the crowd.
Armstrong and Hincapie finally connected with about 3 miles to go, but by then it was too late. By then, Ullrich was powering his way to victory aided by help from Koeden. Hincapie finished eighth, 1:26 behind the winner. After a rainy morning, the clouds broke and the cyclists rode under sunny skies. Although several riders took turns leading the field, nobody made a serious move until four laps remained. That's when Marc Wauters of Belgium, Jens Voigt of Germany and Max van Heeswijk of the Netherlands broke away. But Voigt was setting the table for his teammates. Kloeden and Ullrich stormed up to the front midway through the 13th lap. Riding in the Olympics for the third time, Armstrong finished close to where he placed in the previous two. He was 12th in the road race in Atlanta and 14th in Barcelona. In Atlanta, he also placed sixth in the time trial, while still unaware that he was suffering from testicular cancer. Armstrong rose to the top of his sport by winning the Tour de France in 1999, capping a remarkable comeback. The disease had spread to his lungs and brain by the time it was detected in October 1996. He came to Sydney focused on winning a gold medal and now it will have to come in the time trial on Saturday. That's the event he said he was targeting his training toward anyway.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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