Casar triumphs but Contador still leads

FRANCE’S Sandy Casar won the 18th stage of the Tour de France between Cahors and Angouleme in a sprint finish yesterday.

The Francaise des Jeux rider was part of a four-man breakaway – alongside Laurent Lefevre (Bouygues Telecom), Axel Merckx (T-Mobile) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) – who escaped 14 kilometres into the 211km stage.

However, only Dutchman Boogerd made an impression on the overall lead. The Dutchman climbed from 16th at the start of the day to 13th place, 19 minutes 10 seconds behind leader Alberto Contador.