Heulot Keeps Lead but Dutchman Wins Stage

Stephane Heulot of France held to his overall lead in the Tour de France as Dutchman Joeren Blijlevens won Thursday’s 150-mile stage.

Blijlevens, who prevailed in another spirited finish, is among a handful of elite sprinters who have dominated the early, flat stages of the cycling classic. Four of the first five stages have ended in mass sprints, and Blijlevens has been in the running each time, finishing second twice, fourth once and winning Thursday.

“I wasn’t discouraged by the second places. There are 10 guys who can win a sprint in any race,” said the 24-year-old cyclist for the TVM team.

“Those days I just had bad luck. Today I had good luck and I knew I was going to win.”

Two of the sprinters left the Tour Thursday: Mario Cippolini, who won a stage at the beginning of the week, dropped out because of a fever along with Jan Svorada, who crashed Wednesday.

The race changes today as it enters the French Alps with some climbing stages, including the first of two individual time trials Sunday at Val d’Isere.

Five-time defending champion Miguel Indurain of Spain finished with the main group of riders and was 11th overall at four minutes and 17 seconds back.

About midway through the stage, American Lance Armstrong went down in a minor spill and briefly scuffled with Gilles Bouvard of France. Armstrong went on to finish with the main pack.

Fights are not uncommon in the sport, but that nerves should be so frayed so early probably reflected the frustrations of a week of wheel-to-wheel cycling in windy and rainy conditions.

Today’s stage of 128.3 miles from Arc-et-Senans to Aix-les-Bains will be the first challenging climb.