CYCLING / TOUR DE FRANCE : Chioccioli Wins Stage as Indurain Keeps Lead

Miguel Indurain of Spain held his lead in the Tour de France as Italy’s Franco Chioccioli won the 15th stage Monday.

Chioccioli, 32, won last year’s Tour of Italy but is racing in the Tour de France for the first time. He made a winning break up the only real obstacle of the day, the 3,960-foot Col de la Croix-de-Chaubouret, with 17 miles to go in the 123-mile stage between Bourg-d’Oisans and Saint-Etienne.

“Today was a good stage for me,” Chioccioli said, “with a hill, but not a high mountain. Also, the hill wasn’t that far from the finish. I recovered from the mountains well because I didn’t make too much of an effort in l’Alpe d’Huez. I am just discovering the Tour de France and it was my ambition to win a stage. Mission accomplished.”

He finished in 4 hours 43 minutes 59 seconds, 42 seconds ahead of Russian Dimitri Konyshev and 49 seconds in front of a pack that included Indurain and the other top leaders.

This year’s race will almost certainly go down as one of the quickest on record, with no breathers for the pack as each stage takes place at frenetic speed.

Indurain, a heavy favorite to retain his title after a strong weekend performance in the Alps, held his 1:42 lead over Claudio Chiappucci of Italy, who finished in the same pack. Also in the pack was third-place Andy Hampsten of Boulder, Colo., still 8:01 behind Indurain.

“The day was relatively quiet for me and the rest of the pack after the mountains,” Indurain said. “I have to watch Claudio, though, because I don’t want to wait for the time trial.”

The transition from the Alps to the section of France known as the Massif Central was almost entirely flat, with endless views of fields of sunflowers. The three-week race continues over such flat terrain this week, has a time trial Friday, and ends Sunday in Paris. Only 133 of the 198 starters are left.