Russian Takes Lead as Heulot Drops Out and Indurain Fades

Russian Yevgeny Berzin took the overall lead in the Tour de France on Saturday after a stage won by Luc LeBlanc of France as five-time champion Miguel Indurain faded.

Indurain dropped more than four minutes back in the seventh stage, the first mountain leg of the race.

A stream of cyclists passed him in the final ascent of the three-climb, 123-mile run from Chambery to Les Arcs.

Indurain goes into today’s 18.9-mile individual time trial sitting 14th overall, 3:52 behind.

Since winning his first Tour in 1991, the Spaniard has dominated the time trials and stayed with the leaders in the mountain stages to win five consecutive Tours.

“Indurain is still in the race,” said Swiss rider Tony Rominger, who moved to third overall, seven seconds behind. “This is only the first stage in the mountains.”

Stephane Heulot, who led for the last three days, became the latest victim of the mountain roads.

He complained of knee pains after Friday’s stage and retired from the race in tears during the second climb on Saturday.

There was a rash of spills throughout the day. Rominger went down in the flats between the second and third climbs. Swiss rider Alex Zulle survived two crashes.

The scariest moment, however, came on the second descent when Belgian rider Johan Bruyneel took a corner too wide, clipped a concrete barrier and disappeared over the cliff beyond.

“I fell about [30 feet] into a tree. . . . I was just happy there was a tree there,” said Bruyneel, who finished the stage.