Popovych discovers form

ByEurosport

Published 14/07/2006 at 14:52 GMT

Yaroslav Popovych saved four minutes on his GC rivals and a terrible week for Discovery by claiming a solo win the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Friday. Breaking away from a four-man escape group with under 10-km to ride, the 2005 white jersey earne

Floyd Landis easily retained his yellow jersey finishing in the main peloton at 4'25" behind Popovych.

Popovych rode with sprinters Oscar Freire and Alessandro Ballan and Frenchman Christophe Le Mevel for 100-kilometres before launching his first attack with under 10-km left to ride.

Le Mevel, seeking a French stage win on Bastille Day for the third straight year, was easily dropped while the two sprinters stayed with the Ukrainian.

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But Popovych just kept attacking, and eventually a dispute between Ballan and Freire over the workload allowed the 26-year-old to break clear to victory, crossing himself as he went over the line.

CYCLING 2006 Tour de France Yaroslav Popovych winner stage twelve

Image credit: Reuters

Ballan finished in second-place 27 seconds behind Popovych, and Freire was third 29 seconds off pace, as the two riders did not contest the final sprint. Le Mevel settled for fourth 35 seconds behind the eventual winner.

The stage had started to look like another terrible one for Discovery Channel when double Giro D'Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli dropped out of the race one day after injuring his head in a mountain crash.

The Italian was joined by Spain's Benjamin Noval in more bad news for Lance Armstrong's former team.

But Popovych, who won Stage 4 of last year's Tour, had the answer.

"I knew I just had to attack and I could beat Oscar," Popovych said. "Only Ballan was the chap I could worry about so I attacked five or six times."

Popovych moved into the top-ten overall, but was not hopeful for his chances at returning to contention for the yellow jersey.

"It's going to be difficult to gain time, even now," he said.

"We'll have to see over the next couple of days."

Landis: Popo not a threat

On Thursday Discovery had one of their worst days at the Tour since Lance Armstrong won his first of seven consecutive titles in 1999.

In the Queen stage of the Pyrenees and the first mountain finish of the Tour, GC hopeful George Hincapie lost more than 20 minutes on the leaders, while Savoldelli and Popovych also dropped like stones in the overall standings.

The performance prompted sporting director Johan Bruyneel to tell Eurosport, "We can forget about the general classification and we have to now try and find a stage victory."

Team manager Dirk Demol was satisfied with Popovych's response on Friday's 211-km stage from Luchon to Carcassonne.

"Today the team gave the right answer," Demol said after the race. "We were disappointed after yesterday, the riders even more so."

"We sat down this morning and said 'let's focus on stage wins.' Luckily today we got [one]."

Still, neither Landis nor his Phonak team seemed worried that Popovych would pose any threat for the yellow jersey.

"I don't think we were too worried about the classification of him right now," Landis told Eurosport. "If he does it again, that could be a problem."

Popovych still trails Landis by 4'15" in the general classification.

"I'm not worried. I don't think Popovych is a threat after what he showed in the Pyrenees," said Phonak team manager John Lelangue.

After a pitiful time trial, a worse day in the mountains, and the loss of one of their GC challengers, Friday's victory nevertheless had to be a refreshing confidence boost for Discovery.

"This first ten days have been very difficult for the team," Popovych concluded. "We've got to try and get some people in the breaks now to win some stages."

Follow complete coverage of the 230-km Stage 13 trip from Béziers to Montélimar LIVE from 11:45 CET right here on www.eurosport.com.

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