Tour De France 2005 : Serrano climbs to stage success
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Serrano climbs to stage success
Marcos Serrano took the honours in the 18th stage of the Tour de France.
The Spaniard came out on top of a gruelling three-way battle with Cedric Vasseur and Axel Merckx on a short, sharp climb late in the 189km stage.
The Liberty-Seguros rider had the legs to drop the pair on the Cote de la Croix-Neuve before powering down the kilometre descent to the finish.
Race leader Lance Armstrong finished the route from Albi to Mende 11 minutes and 18 seconds down with Ivan Basso.
The pair showed their strength on the final climb which split the peloton - and the leading challengers on the overall classification.
The only riders who could stay with the American and the second-placed Italian were Jan Ullrich and Cadel Evans - and for good reason.
We knew it was a difficult finish. You still have a lot of tactics within the race and you have to pay attention
Lance Armstrong
Ullrich was desperate to take time out of third-placed Mickael Rasmussen to help his efforts of getting on Sunday's podium in Paris, while Evans wanted to leapfrong Alexandre Vinokourov into seventh.
Serrano climbs to stage success
Marcos Serrano took the honours in the 18th stage of the Tour de France.
The Spaniard came out on top of a gruelling three-way battle with Cedric Vasseur and Axel Merckx on a short, sharp climb late in the 189km stage.
The Liberty-Seguros rider had the legs to drop the pair on the Cote de la Croix-Neuve before powering down the kilometre descent to the finish.
Race leader Lance Armstrong finished the route from Albi to Mende 11 minutes and 18 seconds down with Ivan Basso.
The pair showed their strength on the final climb which split the peloton - and the leading challengers on the overall classification.
The only riders who could stay with the American and the second-placed Italian were Jan Ullrich and Cadel Evans - and for good reason.
We knew it was a difficult finish. You still have a lot of tactics within the race and you have to pay attention
Lance Armstrong
Ullrich was desperate to take time out of third-placed Mickael Rasmussen to help his efforts of getting on Sunday's podium in Paris, while Evans wanted to leapfrong Alexandre Vinokourov into seventh.
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