Changes Target Armstrong

The Tour de France will have fewer mountain finishes and shorter individual time trials next year, a move designed to hamper Lance Armstrong’s bid for a record-extending seventh victory in cycling’s biggest race.

“Lance has been able to keep rivals at a distance, and we hope to make this race more interesting,” director Jean-Marie Leblanc said in announcing the route.

Whether Armstrong competes in the 2005 race has yet to be determined.

“He will decide in February or March,” said Johan Bruyneel, a spokesman for Armstrong’s team.

Tennis

Andre Agassi advanced to the Stockholm Open quarterfinals in Sweden, defeating Jonas Bjorkman, 6-3, 6-4.

Amelie Mauresmo reached the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Open in Linz, Austria, by defeating Marta Domachovska, 6-4, 6-0.

Stefan Koubek beat French Open champion Gaston Gaudio, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors at Basel.

Two-time champion Marat Safin eliminated Sargis Sargsian, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

Magnus Norman, 28, announced his retirement because of hip and knee injuries.

College Basketball

The “show-cause” penalty imposed on former Cal State Northridge assistant John Dahlager was cut to six years by an NCAA committee. Dahlager was fired by Northridge in June 2003 after a university investigation found he arranged to have two other assistant coaches alter the transcripts of former player John Clark.

USC freshman forward Emanuel Willis, who had been out because of a respiratory illness and had taken stitches in his arm after cutting it running into a gym door during practice, returned to practice.

UCLA will play Monterrey Tech of Mexico on Nov. 11 in an exhibition game at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins had been scheduled to play Centro Universitario Mineiro Uberlandia, a Brazil team, but were forced to change opponents after it was learned Mineiro Uberlandia plays games in a Brazilian professional league.

Carlton Dotson, the former Baylor player charged with murdering teammate Patrick Dennehy, was ruled incompetent to stand trial. He will be in a state mental hospital for up to four months, after which his competence will be evaluated again.

Pro Basketball

Washington forward Chamique Holdsclaw, who sat out much of last season because of “undisclosed medical reasons,” told the Washington Post she was suffering from depression.

Holdsclaw said she had regained her enthusiasm to play and would seek a place with a team overseas this winter.

Seattle’s Lauren Jackson, the WNBA’s scoring leader, had arthroscopic surgery to repair a damaged ligament and remove bone spurs from her right ankle.

Miscellany

A judge ordered the release of 68 sealed documents in the Kobe Bryant sexual-assault case. The information will be posted on a court-authorized website after the name of the alleged victim and other personal identifying information are blacked out.

Judge Terry Ruckriegle, who also ruled that the transcripts from eight closed hearings be made public, said there is a “public as well as an academic interest in what occurred in this case.”

The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the Mighty Ducks’ minor league affiliate, will play three games at the Arrowhead Pond during the NHL lockout, Nov. 24 against the Grand Rapids Griffins and Dec. 17 and 18 against the Edmonton Road Runners.