Tour de France leaders wait in Pyrenees
AX-3 DOMAINES, France -- With the Pyrenees all too ready to punish riders, overall leader Andy Schleck and defending champion Alberto Contador sized each other up, matching wits and pedal strokes in a high-altitude waiting game at the Tour de France.
Sunday's victory belonged to Christophe Riblon, a relatively unknown Frenchman who won a stage in cycling's showcase race for the first time.
Riblon, who rides for AG2R, was spurred by a French crowd that has little to celebrate at the Tour in recent years.
Schleck leads Contador, his closest rival, by 31 seconds. Both arrived with the same time, more than a minute behind Riblon. They lost a few seconds to the next closest contenders, Samuel Sanchez of Spain and Denis Menchov of Russia, but were not unhappy with the results.
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Schleck and Cantador have three more days in the mountains to try to get a jump on the other. That's particularly important for Schleck, who knows his slender lead is unlikely to be enough in the time trial Saturday.
Bettencourt wins Reno-Tahoe Open
RENO, Nev. -- Matt Bettencourt eagled on the 11th hole, then held off Bob Heintz by a stroke to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Bettencourt capped his 4-under 68 with a bogey on No. 18 after a birdie on 17, finishing the Reno-Tahoe Open at 11-under 277 Sunday. After his eagle on the par-5 11th, he played the final seven holes in 1 over par. He also bogeyed the par-4 14th at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
Heintz (69) missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 18 that would have forced a playoff.
Power wins Honda Indy Toronto
TORONTO -- Will Power won the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday for his second straight victory and fourth of the season, passing Justin Wilson off a restart with 14 laps left and holding off Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti.
All four of Power's victories have come on street or road courses. The series leader -- 42 points ahead of Franchitti -- won two weeks ago at Watkins Glen and swept the season-opening road races in Sao Paulo and St. Petersburg.
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The Australian is in his first full season with Team Penske after driving six races last season, highlighted by a victory in Edmonton. Power finished 1.2757 seconds ahead of Franchitti.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was third, followed by Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Danica Patrick, Wilson, Marco Andretti, Simona de Silvestro and Dan Wheldon.
Armstrong aiming for stage win
REVEL, France -- Lance Armstrong's team manager said Sunday that the seven-time Tour de France winner has deliberately lost time to save energy for a new goal: a stage victory.
RadioShack boss Johan Bruyneel said a flat tire, several crashes and general "bad luck" early in the three-week race put Armstrong out of contention.
Ahead of the start of four punishing stages in the Pyrenees, the American had lost time to the Tour leader for four straight days.
"That's definitely on purpose," Bruyneel told the Associated Press before the 14th stage Sunday. "Now that he's not in contention for the general classification anymore, you try to save strength.
"And one of these days he may try to get in the breakaway -- and he needs all the freshness he has to try to win a stage."
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Armstrong dismisses LeMond's bribing claim
Armstrong dismissed as "nonsense" a reported claim by Greg LeMond that the seven-time Tour de France champion tried to pay someone $300,000 to say LeMond used a banned drug.
LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung's weekend issue that Armstrong tried to implicate him "by all means" in a scandal involving EPO, a performance enhancer.
LeMond refused to reveal the identity of the person who was allegedly offered money by Armstrong, saying he still works in cycling.
