Tour de France : Fignon Wins Stage; Delgado Widens His Lead Over Roche

Frenchman Laurent Fignon, the Tour de France cycling champion in 1983 and 1984, won his first stage in three years in this event Wednesday, while Pedro Delgado of Spain slightly increased his overall lead.

Fignon outsprinted Anselmo Fuerte of Spain on the final climb of this 115-mile, 21st stage from Bourg d’Oisans to La Plagne. Both were timed in 6 hours 7 minutes 5 seconds.

Fabio Parra of Colombia was third, 39 seconds behind, and Delgado finished fourth, 57 seconds back. Stephen Roche of Ireland was fifth, 1:01 off the pace.

In the overall standings, Delgado has a time of 96:40:30. He leads Roche by 39 seconds and Charles Mottet of France by 3 minutes 12 seconds.

France’s Jeannie Longo outsprinted Italy’s Maria Canins to win the 27-mile, 12th stage of the women’s Tour de France.

But Canins finished the stage in the same time as Longo, and held her two-second lead in the overall standings. The winning time was 1 hour 40 minutes 40 seconds. Ute Enzenauer of West Germany was third, 2:10 back.

Canins has an overall time of 22:16:06 and leads Longo by two seconds in the standings. Enzenauer is third, 8:21 behind.