Tour de France : No Penalty for Leader Delgado; Dane Wins 19th Stage

On a day dominated by drug tests and discussion of possible sanctions against leading riders, Johnny Weltz of Denmark won the 19th stage of the Tour de France by 43 seconds over West German Rolf Golz.

Pedro Delgado finished third in Thursday’s stage to stretch his lead in the race to 4 minutes 58 seconds over Steven Rooks of the Netherlands, then was informed that he will not be penalized for a positive drug test because the substance he took is not banned by the International Cycling Union.

Traces of probenecid, which could be used to mask the presence of anabolic steroids, were found in a specimen given by Delgado after the 13th stage last Friday.

A second urinalysis Thursday confirmed the presence of probenecid, which is banned by the International Olympic Committee, but officials can not penalize Delgado because it is not among the 2,000 substances banned for cyclists.

“It is out of the question to sanction the racer Pedro Delgado,” said Mario Prece, president of the race jury that ruled in the case.

Delgado, who faced a possible 10-minute penalty that would have dropped him to fifth place in the overall standings, has a commanding lead with only three days left in the three-week-long race.

Although Delgado was cleared, Dutch rider Gert-Jan Theunisse was penalized 10 minutes for taking another substance that is banned. Theunisse fell from 4th to 11th place as a result of the positive drug test. Officials did not release the name of the drug found in Theunisse’s specimen.

Weltz, 26, a second-year professional who also won a stage of the Tour of Spain this year, broke away from the pack with Golz midway through the stage and then left the West German behind on a long, steep climb at the end of the 117-mile leg.

Weltz, a member of the Fagor team who finished in 5 hours 14 minutes 34 seconds, said he wasn’t even sure he would be able to race in the Tour this year.

“I had appendix surgery in March and I didn’t think I’d be able to return to form so quickly,” he said. “When I’m having a good day, however, I’m capable of winning.”

Delgado’s overall time of 72:29.49 after 19 of the 22 stages in the Tour gave him a comfortable lead over Rooks entering the final weekend before the race ends in Paris. Rooks is followed in the overall standings by Fabio Parra of Colombia.

Andrew Hampsten of the United States recovered from an early fall to move up one place in the standings from 14th to 13th, but he remained more than 21 minutes behind the leader.