Phinney Wins Stage, Stieda Takes Lead in Bicycle Race

Alex Stieda of Coquitlam, British Columbia, moved into the overall lead of the 1988 Coors International bicycle race from San Francisco to Colorado after the end of the seventh stage Sunday.

Stieda, 27, a member of Team 7-Eleven, finished fourth in the stage to take the leader’s red jersey from teammate Andrew Hampsten of Boulder, Colo.

Davis Phinney, another Team 7-Eleven member from Boulder, narrowly won the 95-mile mountain road race from Squaw Valley, Calif., to Sparks to move into second place overall.

The eighth stage will feature a criterium through downtown Reno this evening. Racers then will move on to Grand Junction, Colo., for the ninth stage later this week.

Stieda and Phinney were among 10 riders who broke away from the field about 38 miles into the race. The 10 stayed relatively close together until about two miles from the finish line, when Phinney and two others pulled away.

Phinney, 29, finished in a time of 3 hours 47 minutes 24 seconds to edge second-place finisher William Pulido, 23, of Team Colombia, and third-place finisher Gerrit de Vries, 21, of Team Holland.

Stieda finished 14 seconds behind the three, but his time was good enough to move him into the overall lead.

Previous overall leader Hampsten failed to break the top 10 in Sunday and slipped to fourth.