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The Battalion
Page 5 • Thursday, July 25,
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HOUSTON (AP) — When
uston Texans owner Bob
cNair suggested the Houston
xans hold its first training
â– mp in its humid hometown,
some wondered what his second
I mice was — the Sahara
Desert?
Weather aside, training in
Houston seemed impractical for
o her reasons, such as eliminat-
ig the bonding that comes from
bunking together at a college
dormitory, far away from the
I stractions of home.
Yet a week into its first
training camp, the Texans seem
quite comfortable right in its
own back yard — an $8 million
setup that features three natural
grass fields and an air-condi
tioned bubble, all across the
street from $365 million
Reliant Stadium.
“There were a lot of people,
not in our organization, that
thought it wasn’t a good idea to
have training camp here,”
McNair said. “But 1 wanted to
have it here from the beginning.”
The Houston Oilers never
trained in Houston, spending
summers instead in places like
San Angelo and San Antonio.
McNair, however, points out the
Oilers “didn’t have the facilities
that we do.”
Players dress in their elabo
rate locker room beneath Reliant
Stadium. At their disposal are a
10,000-square foot weight
room, a lounge and three-lane
swimming pool.
When the time comes, they
ride golf carts across the street
to the practice facility.
Afterward, they go two blocks
away to a hotel where the team
is residing.
“There are some nice stadi
ums around the country and ours
is one of the nicest,” McNair
said. “I haven’t seen practice
facilities like these anywhere. I
don’t know anywhere we could
go where we could get facilities
like these.”
Despite the availability of an
air-conditioned practice field,
coach Dom Capers scheduled all
Armstrong extends lead again
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LA PLAGNE, France (AP)
Lance Armstrong placed
third in the 16th stage of the
Tour de France on Wednesday,
extending his overall lead in his
bid for a fourth straight title.
Armstrong finished 1
minute, 25 seconds behind
stage-winner Michael Boogerd
of the Netherlands in the 111-
mile leg marked by difficult
climbs.
But the 30-year-old Texan
finished ahead of his nearest
challenger, Spain’s Joseba
Beloki, and pushed his overall
lead from 4 minutes, 21 seconds
to about 5 minutes.
“It was really a difficult
stage,” Armstrong said. “La
Plagne is a tough mountain
pass.”
Barring illness, injury or a
spectacular loss of form in
Thursday’s last mountain stage,
Armstrong is almost certain to
retain the yellow jersey of over
all leader until the finish in
Paris on Sunday.
Armstrong won last year’s
lour with a 6:44 lead over sec-
^-placed Jan Ullrich of
Germany.
Wednesday’s stage through
t/ie Alps included three excep
tionally difficult climbs and
was the toughest of the three-
week Tour. Thursday’s leg from
Aime to Cluses is the last in the
mountains, where the Tour title
is usually decided.
“It’s a complicated day,”
Armstrong said of the final
mountain stage. “It’s never
hat. It’s the same stage as two
years ago when I cracked at
Joux-Plane.”
Armstrong was referring
to his only weak moment in
the 2000 Tour, when he sud
denly tired in the final moun
tain stage and lost nearly 2
minutes from his overall lead.
Armstrong never tired dur
ing last year’s Tour, suggesting
he has learned to maintain his
form throughout the competi
tion. He is also favored to win
Saturday’s individual time trial
and extend his lead.
Boogerd, of the Rabobank
team, took the stage between
the ski stations of Les Deux-
Alpes and La Plagne in 5:48.29.
Spain’s Carlos Sastre was
second, just ahead of
Armstrong, who had the same
time as the CSC-Tiscali rider.
Armstrong sprinted away
from the pack of race favorites 2
1/2 miles before the finish. The
U.S. Postal Service team rider
was about 2:40 behind Boogerd
when he made the break.
He powered up the final
stretch, cutting more than a
minute off Boogerd’s lead and
catching up with Sastre. He
shook hands with Sastre after
crossing the line. Beloki fin
ished 2:02 behind Boogerd.
Armstrong was congratulat
ed by Prince Albert of Monaco
after the stage.
Armstrong finished ninth in
the 15th stage on Tuesday. The
140-mile stage from Vaison-la-
Romaine to Les Deux-Alpes
was the longest of the competi
tion. Armstrong trailed the win
ner, Colombia’s Santiago
Botero, by 6:41.
“Les Deux-Alpes, it’s not
too hard, it’s not good for
attacking,” Armstrong said.
On Tuesday, Botero was
timed in 5:55:16, breaking
from the main pack 103 miles
before the finish.
“I kept my rhythm the
whole day,” Botero said.
This was his second stage
2002 TOUR DE FRANCE
Armstrong increases overall advantage
Lance Armstrong will start the 17th stage with a lead of almost five
minutes over Spain’s Joseba Beloki despite finishing third to stage
winner Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands.
Stage 17
Thursday July 25
Aime to Cluses
142 kilometers
(88 miles)
Cormet de
Roselend
6,494 feet
Aime
2,228 feet
LUXEMBOURG
Bourg-Saint-
Maurice Flumet
2,739 feet 3,036 feet
Le Grand-
Bornand
3,109 feet
Col de la
Colombiere
5,339 feet
SOURCES: Associated Press: Societe du Tour de France: ESRI
win of this Tour. He stunned
Armstrong to capture the ninth
stage, an individual time trial.
Belgium’s Mario Aerts was
second, 1:51 behind Botero,
and countryman Axel Merckx
was third, 2:30 off the pace.
France’s Christophe Moreau,
fourth in the Tour two years ago,
crashed early in the stage and
cut his lip. He was 41st overall
when he quit.
The first stage in the Alps
was easier than the opening two
mountain stages in the Pyrenees,
and easier than the climb to the
top of the Mont Ventoux.
Tuesday’s racing came on the
same day Jan Ullrich drew a six-
month cycling ban for taking
amphetamines. The German
contends he took the substance
at a nightclub and was not taking
performance-enhancing drugs.
Ullrich won the Tour in 1997
and was runner-up four times,
twice behind Armstrong. He is
not competing in this year’s
race because of injury.
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41 practices before the season
opener outdoors. He wants his
team accustomed to the heat,
possibly giving the Texans an
advantage.
But Capers’ top concern is
actually having all 41 practices.
That’s why his favorite part of
the team’s setup is the bubble.
“The worst thing for a coach
is to have a schedule planned
and then it’s rained out,” Capers
said. “That won’t happen here.
We can go into the bubble and
not miss any time.
“You cannot make up these
days in training camp. Once
you get into games, there is no
way to replace this learning
time. We have curfew. They are
up at 6:30 going to meetings
and practice. We feel we can
get total concentration.”
McNair is not promising to
always keep training camp at
home. For now, though, it is an
ideal way to stoke the local fan
base. More than 1,500 fans
showed up for the first night
workout.
New Hampshire
win helps Burton
break long slump
(AP) — Ward Burton will
always cherish his win in the
Daytona 500, the biggest victory
of his career. But when every
thing that followed was a disas
ter, it is easy to forget that
moment.
Week after week after his sea-
son-opening Victory, Burton fell
deeper and deeper into a miser
able slump.
He had finishes of 21st or
worse 11 times, scored just two
top-10 finishes and went to New
Hampshire International
Speedway last weekend stuck in
a rut of finishing 33rd of worse
in six of seven races.
Critics just rolled their eyes
at his Daytona win and blasted
Burton and his Bill Davis
Racing team.
When he won last weekend
at New Hampshire, it shut
everyone up.
“Right now, this is just what
the doctor ordered. We needed it,”
Burton said. “We came out of the
box and won the biggest race of
the year. Since then, we’ve had
some struggling times. So to win
again, giving us two in one season,
what more could you ask for?”
Before breaking out of his
slump in New Hampshire,
Burton’s team was overlooked in
the Winston Cup garage area.
When he signed a contract
extension with Davis earlier this
month, some wondered why he
wanted to stay on a losing team.
Parts always broke, his No. 22
Dodge was not good enough to
run up front on a consistent basis
and Burton could never shake
his bad luck.
But Burton would not turn his
back on Davis, and his team just
kept plugging away. The effort
finally showed at New
Hampshire and led the car owner
to defend their efforts.
“We deserve more respect
than we’ve gotten,” Davis said.
“Stuff hasn’t fallen off our cars.
We’ve had some unusual fail
ures, drive shaft and transmis
sion-wise. We’ve had some real
good race cars. We’ve had some
races we should have won.”
U
Right now, this
is just what the
doctor ordered. We
needed it.
— Ward Burton
NASCAR driver
Still, it is hard to argue that
luck has not played a part of
Burton’s two wins.
No one forgets how he won
the Daytona 500, inheriting the
lead when Sterling Marlin got
out of his car to pull his crumpled
fender away from his tire during
a red-flag. Prohibited from work
ing on his car during a stoppage.
Marlin was forced to back of the
pack on the restart. Burton took
over the lead and held on in the
final few laps for the victory.
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