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CBS SportsLine staff and wires July 7, 1997
Italy's Mario Cipollini claimed his second consecutive stage today at the Tour de France, cycling's most prestigious race, in Vire. Cipollini, a member of the Saeco team, pulled away in the final mile to overtake Telekom member Erik Zabel and Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens of TVM in a sprint finish for his sixth career stage victory. The riders embarked on a 163-mile jaunt from St. Valery-En-Caux to Vire, the longest of the 21 stages. Cipollini retained the overall leader's yellow jersey heading into Tuesday's third stage, a 135-mile jaunt from Vire to Plumelec. Cipollini holds a 36-second lead over prologue winner Chris Boardman of Britain and a 38-second lead over Telekom member Jan Ullrich of Germany, who finished runner-up last year. Defending champion Bjarne Riis of Denmark, who now lives in Luxembourg, took the leader's yellow jersey during the weather-shortened ninth stage last year and did not relinguish it the rest of the way, edging Ullrich by one minute, 41 seconds, to become the first Danish cyclist to win the Tour de France. Spain's Miguel Indurain, the only man to win five consecutive Tour De France titles, retired from the sport after finishing 11th in last year's race. Indurain won the Tour from 1991-95. The riders will reach the finish line along the Champs Elysees in Paris on July 27th.
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1997 Tour de France
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