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Stage winner:
Djamolidine Abdujaparov (Refin)
Yellow jersey:
Bjarne Riis (Telekom)
Green jersey:
Erik Zabel (Telekom)
Climber's jersey:
Richard Virenque (Festina)
Stage 14 winning team:
TVM
First place team (overall):
Mapei-GB
NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY
Here's a partial list of penalties and fines issued on Sunday, July 14:
* Illegal refreshments cost Ivan Cerioli of Gewiss-Playbus 50 Swiss francs. The same infraction cost Cerioli's team manager 200 Swiss francs.
* The team manager of Telekom was fined 200 Swiss francs for having riders show up late because they were still getting dressed.
* Roslotto's team manager was fined 300 Swiss francs for illegal repairs.
* Mapei's team manager was fined 100 Swiss francs for not respecting course directions.
* A severe warning was given to the team manager of Telekom for doing something on the course (who knows what those guys from Germany were up to) that did not promote a positive image for the sport of cycling.
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By Andrew Hood
Outside Online correspondent
In the hottest stage of the Tour de France, Uzbekistan's Djamolidine Abdujaparov kept his cool and rode away from a five-man break to win Stage 14.
Abdujaparov (Refin-Mobilvetta), one of the peloton's most feared sprinters, left second-place Mirco Gualdi (Polti) and Motorola's Laurent Madouas of France gasping for air on the final climb when temperatures soared into the 90s.
"At one kilometer from the finish, I knew it was mine," Abdujaparov said.
Madouas made a valiant effort to bring home a French victory on Bastille Day, the national holiday marking the beginning of the French revolution. But the stage win eluded him as Abdujaparov controlled the final kilometers. Madouas broke early in the stage and was caught, then broke again and held it all the way to the finish, only to have Abdujaparov steal the victory.
"I attacked again at the Cote de Ventadour and I paid for it in the end," said Madouas. "Everyone was waiting to attack in the final climb and I went one kilometer earlier, but it was too bad because we were beaten by an Abdujaparov that's in great form."
Sunday's podium was Abdujaparov's ninth career Tour stage win. For a man who raced in his first Tour de France in 1991, he's had ample success in cycling's greatest race.
The Tashkent native burst onto the professional cycling scene in the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. His flamboyant and sometimes reckless sprinting style quickly earned respect for the stocky "Abdu."
But times have changed. At 32, he's no longer strong enough to fend off charges from younger riders like Germany's Erik Zabel or Italy's Mario Cipollini.
To earn his stage wins, Abdu must break and hope he can hold the lead. On Tuesday, Abdu lost a sprint to Zabel, who won his second Tour stage win this year at Gap.
On Saturday, Abdu was in the hunt again, but a five-minute lead was chewed up by pouncing leaders who attacked out of the lead group and swallowed him up just one kilometer from the finish at Superbesse. Sunday, however, was Abdu's day.
He went out early, following several riders who pulled out of the peloton on a course lined with thousands of cheering fans on France's Bastille Day, the largest crowd since the Tour began June 29.
Working with Motorola's Laurent Madouas, Polti's Mirco Gualdi, GAN's Didier Rous, and Denmark's Bo Hamburger (TVM), the break steadily pulled away from a languid peloton.
The leaders have held back in the series of stages through France's Massif Central, waiting for a pair of climbing stages July 16 and 17 in the Pyrenees and then the Tour's critical final time trial July 20.
Abdujaparov, 98th overall at one hour, 20 minutes, and eight seconds behind yellow-jersey holder Bjarne Riis, pulled away from the break and powered all the way to the finish alone, not like the Abdu of old, throwing elbows and pumping his tree-trunk-thick legs like a piston. He crossed the finish line slowly, hands pumping the sky.
"I haven't got enough team members to help me out in the sprint, so I just follow who goes out in front," said Abdujaparov, who won the final stage of last year's Tour in Paris.
Sunday's stage was another day of frustration for the American Motorola squad. Not only has the team's sponsor, Motorola, said it's pulling out at the end of the season, but both team captains--American Lance Armstrong and Great Britain rider Max Sciandri--have quit the Tour.
And now George Hincapie has taken a bad spill. He went down hard in a crash midway through the course Sunday when he blew out a tire on a steep descent. Hincapie, one of two remaining Americans--Frankie Andreu is the second--suffered serious cuts and abrasions to his right leg and shoulder, but went on to finish the race. He actually finished beyond the time limit and three
other riders with similar times to Hincapie's were cut from the field. Due to Hincapie's treatment on course, however, race officials allowed him to remain in the race.
With Tour's deciding stages still in the wings, the overall leaders held back Sunday. Overall leader Riis is sounding more confident of victory. After Sunday's stage when he was unchallenged, Riis said he wants to keep the yellow jersey all the way to Paris July 21.
"I feel this race is mine," said Riis, who finished third behind Indurain last year. "I'm more and more confident every day. Even though I'm tired, I still hope to be [in Paris] in yellow."
The 3,900-kilometer (2,418-mile) Tour de France continues Monday with Stage 15, which covers 176 kilometers (109 miles) from Brive-la-Galliarde to Villeneuve-sur-Lot.
Stage 14 results
Andrew Hood, Jim Schnebly, and Andy Dahlstrom are on the road, providing up-to-the-minute updates from the Tour de France
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