July 24/98 12:58 pm - Steels Takes Stage 12

Posted by Editor on 07/24/98
 

Steels Wins Sprint Finish

As expected, the breakaway trio were brought back after the Telekom team went to the front of the peleton. Laurent Jalabert (ONCE) dropped off the front first, and was caught with 68 kilometres left in the stage. The other two - Nicolas Jalabert (Cofidis) and Bart Voskamp (TVM) - were reeled in with 47 kilometres to go. The sprinter‚s teams then went to the front and attacks began. Jacky Durand (Casino) managed to stay away until the final half kilometre before being swallowed up in the sprint. At the line it was Tom Steels (Mapei), taking his second stage of the Tour, followed by Francois Simon (Gan) and Stephane Barthe (Casino). Ullrich, Julich, Pantani and other general classification leaders finished in the pack.