Tour de France : Belgian Wins Seventh Stage; Andersen Leads

Belgian Ludwig Wijnants fought off a heavy downpour and a challenge from expert climber Luis Herrera of Colombia Friday to win the seventh stage of the Tour de France.

It was a perfect birthday gift for Wijnants, who turned 29 Thursday. The Belgian crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Herrera in the 135-mile leg between Reims and Nancy. Rain fell over part of the course and at the finish.

Herrera, who had been suffering on the flat terrain of the early stages, won a close battle for second place over Peter Winnen of Holland and Spaniard Inaki Gaston, who came in fourth. Willem Van Eynde was fifth, eight seconds back.

American Greg LeMond was 13th, nine seconds behind the leader.

Holding on to the yellow jersey as overall leader in the race was Kim Andersen of Denmark. He finished comfortably in a pack following sixth-place finisher Benny Van Brabant of Belgium.

Bernard Hinault, a four-time champion and Andersen’s La Vie Claire teammate, finished 23rd Friday in the pack, nine seconds behind Wijnants, and stood fourth in the overall standings, trailing by 1:07.

The race, which ends in Paris July 21, continues today with a 46.6-mile individual time between here and Strasbourg.