
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993                   TAG: 9311190076
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE                                LENGTH: Medium

LEMOND PLANNING TO RIDE IN TOUR DUPONT

American cyclist Greg LeMond, who did not enter the Tour DuPont in 1993 after winning it the year before, said Thursday he hopes to be in shape to ride in the race through Virginia and three other states in May.

"I still consider myself the defending champion," LeMond said Thursday at a news conference in Charlotte to promote the city's participation in the grueling 1,000-mile race.

LeMond, who is 32 and still considering making a run for the 1996 Olympics, said he's looking forward to the 1994 Tour DuPont, which is patterned after the Tour de France.

"I miss this race," he said. "It seems I have a good year when I win the Tour DuPont. I'm having a bad year this year so I hope I win."

The three-time Tour de France winner is training to get back in shape after being sidelined earlier this year with a broken wrist and a virus. He hopes to train in North Carolina for the Tour DuPont.

Tour DuPont, in its sixth year, begins May 5 in Dover, Del., and winds through Maryland and Virginia before coming to the North Carolina mountains on May 11.

On May 13, the cyclists will leave the Grove Park Inn in Asheville and head to Charlotte in stage 9 of the 11-stage race. Local officials have added a $10,000 bonus for the winner of that stage, which ends in downtown Charlotte.

The next morning, the riders will depart from Cabarrus Memorial Hospital in Concord on their way to High Point. The final stage is on May 15, when the cyclists race from Greensboro to Winston-Salem.

Mike Plank, president of Medalist Sports, the race's organizer, said 2 million spectators watch the Tour DuPont, which he called America's premier cycling race. The race offers about $300,000 in total prizes, including $65,000 to the winner.

The Tour DuPont features 15 to 18 teams of seven cyclists who are invited to participate. The winner is the cyclist with the lowest total time over the 1,000-mile course, symbolized by the famed yellow jersey.

by CNB