Tour de France : Delgado Wins 13th Stage, Builds Lead

Pedro Delgado of Spain solidified his overall lead in the Tour de France Friday by winning the grueling 13th stage, a 23.5-mile individual time trial on a steep slope in the Alps.

Delgado, who had taken the overall leader’s yellow jersey for the first time on Thursday after an earlier mountain climb, opened up a margin of 2 minutes 47 seconds over Steven Rooks of Holland, who was third in Friday’s stage. Steve Bauer of Canada is third overall, 3:02 behind Delgado.

Delgado, 28, completed the stage in 1 hour 2 minutes 24 seconds, defeating a rejuvenated Jean-Francois Bernard of France by 44 seconds. Delgado, who races for the Reynolds team, now has an overall time of 48:05.37.

“I didn’t think I could beat Bernard’s time,” said Delgado, who finished second in the Tour last year and is the overwhelming favorite to win this summer.

“When I got 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the end, they told me I was winning. But I wasn’t sure I could do it until I crossed the finish line.”

Bernard, who had discussed dropping out of the race Thursday after falling to 39th place overall and suffering from an infection, produced an excellent run on the steep slope from Grenoble to Villard-de-Lans to take second place in the stage.

“For the first time since the start of the race, I felt the strength return to my legs,” said Bernard, who is 31st overall, nearly 24 minutes behind Delgado.

Fabio Parra and Luis Herrera, a pair of Colombians known for their prowess in the mountains, finished 15th and 22nd, respectively. Parra is fourth overall, 4:43 off the lead, while Herrera is fifth, 6:21 behind Delgado.

Another pair of excellent mountain climbers, Andrew Hampsten of the United States and Raul Alcala of Mexico, finished nearly four minutes behind Delgado in the stage and stayed in 10th and 11th places overall, respectively.

“The Tour is not over yet, even if many of the favorites are finished,” Delgado warned. “Others are in good position, notably the Colombians, and there are some difficult stages ahead.”

The Tour takes its only day off today as the cyclists fly from Villard-de-Lans to Blagnac.

Roque De La Cruz of Spain tested positive for drugs in a stage and has been given a 10-minute penalty and fined $783. De La Cruz had the positive drug test after the fourth stage on July 6, but the information was not released until Friday.