Tour de France : Spaniard Easily Wins the 15th Leg

Spaniard Eduardo Chozas jumped into contention in the 72nd Tour de France Sunday with a devastating victory in the 15th stage of the 22-leg bicycle race, crossing the line almost 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack.

Chozas worked early to distance himself from everyone else in the 147.5-mile race and never let up, finishing in 7 hours 8 minutes 42 seconds.

Ludo Peeters of Belgium was the closest challenger, 9 minutes 51 seconds behind. He was followed by Irishman Sean Kelly three seconds later who led the rest of the pack.

Matching Kelly at 9 minutes 54 seconds were American Greg Lemond in fourth and Belgian Jean-Philippe Van den Brande in fifth.

Frenchman Bernard Hinault, the four-time champion who had to be stitched up Saturday after a bloody fall about 300 yards from the finish line, continued to hold on to the leader’s yellow jersey, finishing eighth Sunday.

With the victory, Chozas made a dramatic jump from 27th to seventh place in the overall standings.

The Tour entered its last week in the 2,485-mile extravaganza that winds its way clockwise around France and finishes Sunday with a climactic sprint up the Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris.

Chozas broke out from the pack about halfway through the race Sunday on the rolling hills between St. Etienne and Aurillac. Though facing a strong headwind, he needed only 13 miles to open his lead up to nearly 12 minutes.

The Spanish rider had been in a similar situation Tuesday in the mountainous 11th stage, when ace Colombian climber Luis Herrera stole ahead in the steep Alpine altitudes and won the race.

This time Chozas was determined not to repeat his mistake. “I suppose I have learned a lot since the race started,” he said. “Today I made two early attempts that failed, but I did not give up. The third time it worked.”

Hinault was back in his usual form Sunday, with his nose stitched up and his eyes black and blue.

“I didn’t have any problems breathing probably because the break was in the upper part of my nose,” he said. “A couple of the riders wanted to take advantage and attack, but I fought them off.”

It was the 17th day in the race that lasts more than three weeks. Another grueling stretch of mountains remains between Aurillac and the northern trek up to the Paris finishing line.

The cyclists ride southwest today into France’s Dordogne region with a 153.5-mile, mostly flat course between Aurillac to Toulouse.