Konyshev Sprints to Victory; Indurain Retains Yellow Jersey

Dmitri Konyshev of the Soviet Union won Stage 19 of the Tour de France Thursday, outsprinting Pacal Richard of France to the finish.

Konyshev and Richard broke away at the base of Le Revard, 95 miles into the 190-mile road race. After a cat-and-mouse game the last two miles, the Soviet rider outsprinted Richard to win in 4 hours 18 minutes 28 seconds.

Greg LeMond finished fourth in the stage and is eighth overall, 12:25 out of the lead. LeMond, the three-time Tour champion, nearly chased down eventual Konyshev and Richard in the final six miles of the stage but came up 14 seconds shy of victory.

Thursday’s stage took the remaining 160 cyclists from the Alpine resort of Morzine to Aix les Bains, near Lac du Boget in the southern Alps.

“A stage victory was my main objective in the Tour de France,” said Konyshev, who last year became the first Soviet to win a stage of the Tour. “The last kilometer I was thinking only of a sprint, (but) we slowed down. Before that, I gave it (my) all.”

Overall leader Miguel Indurain of Spain chose to conserve his strength for the remaining stages. He finished 1:50 behind Konyshev in a group that included the top seven riders, a result that did not change the leaders’ overall standings. Indurain has kept the yellow jersey away from his main competitor, Italian Gianni Bugno, who remains 3 minutes 9 seconds behind with three stages to go in the 23-day marathon.

Andy Hampsten of Boulder, Colo., finished with the main field and is seventh overall, 9:43 behind Indurain.