NOTEBOOK Tour de France

Breaking away: The time gap opened up by breakaway riders on the stiflingly hot stage 13 on Saturday was the largest so far this year. The bunch of five riders built up a lead of nearly 30 minutes over the trailing main pack. The Tour's history book says the biggest gap between a breakaway group and the pack at the finish was 35:54 in 2001. Breakaways often fail, because the pack can ride far faster as a group than a few cyclists on their own. Most attempted escapes at this Tour have been reeled in by the pack before the finish. In the first hour Saturday, the escapees led by eventual winner Jens Voigt averaged more than 31 mph. Voigt finished the 143-mile stage 29:57 ahead of the pack. Mario Cipollini set the fastest pace in a single full stage at 31.29 mph in 1999.
Good year: It has been a good year at the Tour for riders from the former Soviet Union with two Ukrainians and a Russian collecting stage wins. But Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov didn't even race in the Tour. Five of his Astana Wurth teammates were ousted in a doping scandal before the July 1 start -- disqualifying the whole team. T-Mobile veteran Serhiy Honchar crushed the field in the first long time trial, becoming the first Ukrainian to earn the leader's yellow jersey. On Friday, his compatriot Yaroslav Popovych, of Discovery Channel, won the first stage for Lance Armstrong's former team this year. On the Tour's toughest stage in the Pyrenees, Russia's Denis Menchov sped ahead of Americans Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis to win at Pla-de-Beret, Spain. By Saturday, stage victories by country: Spain, Australia (3); France, Ukraine, Germany (2); Norway, Russia (1).
Brainstorming: Former Italian sprinting star Mario Cipollini offered an idea for tackling doping. Cipollini, who won 12 stages at the Tour de France from 1993-99, said upcoming young riders and experienced professionals should spend time together at training camps. "The young would live with proven champions," he said in L'Equipe sports daily on Saturday. "It would be the best way to combat doping, to teach a new culture to young riders who attend."
Associated Press
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