TOUR DE FRANCE : A Flat Tire Doesn’t Deflate LeMond

For one scary moment, Greg LeMond thought all was lost in his bid to win another Tour de France.

Midway through Wednesday’s 17th stage of the Tour, a 93-mile run from Lourdes to Pau, LeMond was stopped by a flat tire. And his team car carrying the spare was nowhere in sight.

“I could have lost the Tour de France today,” LeMond said. “I got very scared,” LeMond said. “It just goes to show things aren’t won in advance yet.”

But LeMond lost only a minute to the pack he was riding in, which included overall leader Claudio Chiappucci and challenger Pedro Delgado. His teammates, using a pacing relay system, managed to keep the leaders within striking distance for LeMond.

The tire was replaced, LeMond finished strongly and remained five seconds behind Chiappucci entering today’s 18th stage of the 21-stage Tour.

“I was sure that they went faster because of it,” LeMond said, referring to his tire problems. “When I got back I told Chiappucci I wouldn’t forget this.”

Dimitri Konyshev won the 17th stage to become the first Soviet to win a leg of the Tour de France.

Delgado was looking to improve from his third spot, 3:49 back, and his Banesto teammates, along with Chiappucci’s, picked up the pace when LeMond was stopped. But his teammates helped him out.

“It doesn’t matter to stop for our leader,” Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle said. “Especially when Greg comes up and makes a point to say, ‘Thank you,’ in the evening.”

In the end, LeMond was still second and didn’t give up any time to Delgado, either. Delgado remained 3:42 behind Chiappucci and Eric Breukink was fourth, 3:49 back. LeMond wound up 15th in Wednesday’s stage, Chiappucci 13th and Delgado 37th.

Konyshev broke away from the main pack with about 20 others but gradually the group whittled down to Konyshev and Belgium’s Johan Bruyneel. Konyshev won in the sprint, waving and clapping his arms about his head when he finished in 4 hours 8 minutes 25 seconds, more than five minutes in front of LeMond and Chiappucci.

Konyshev is a member of an Italian team that is comprised of nine Soviet cyclists.

Today, the 18th stage brings the riders back to the flatland with a ride to Bordeaux. After another flat stage on Friday, Saturday’s stage features the time trial in Lac de Vassiviere, where LeMond won his first stage of the Tour de France in 1985.