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  Tuesday  July 16  2002    12: 55 AM

Tour de France

Lance doesn't win the time trial. Surprise, surprise. He's moved up to second, 26 seconds down. Still a good position to be in heading into the mountains. He just wasn't as dominant as expected. I guess this is why they run the races. Tomorrow is a rest day followed by another "flat" stage. Thursday will be the first day in the mountains and this will be where the real racing begins. The big boys come out to play.

Here are the two stage profiles.

Stage 10

Stage 11

Botero powers to TT win; Gonzalez de Galdeano stays in yellow

Just when everyone was ready to ordain Lance Armstrong as winner of Monday's 52km individual time trial, the Tour de France delivered another surprise.

In blustery conditions, Armstrong was out-motored by Colombian Santiago Botero, the same racer who beat the Texan at the Dauphiné Libéré time trial in June.

The result stunned many, who expected Armstrong to blaze to yet another dominant victory. Instead, the U.S. Postal team leader finished second, 11 seconds slower than Botero, and didn't eat up enough time to grab the maillot jaune from Spanish rider Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano.
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OVERALL AFTER NINE STAGES

1. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa), ONCE, at 33hr 21min 23sec
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal, at 00:26.
3. Joseba Beloki (Spa), ONCE, at 01:23.
4. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), Fassa Bortolo, at 01:35.
5. Santiago Botero (Col), Kelme, at 01:55.