Cycling: Tour de France: Ugrumov ups the pressure on Indurain: Second victory closes the gap on the leader as the rest of the pack look forward to some rest at the end of a tough race

PIOTR UGRUMOV made a late and great challenge to Miguel Indurain yesterday. In three days the Latvian has risen from the ninth place to collect two wins and a second placing, climbed to second overall, and cut almost two minutes from Indurain's commanding lead.

He did in 47 kilometres yesterday what others have tried over four days to achieve by scything into Indurain's time cushion. After the manner in which Indurain's expected challengers had fallen by the wayside, anything that resembled a threat even at this late stage was welcome.

Richard Virenque and Marco Pantani had knocked at the door, but Ugrumov used the battering ram of the mountains with impressive effect. It will not dislodge Indurain, who still holds a lead of more than five and a half minutes, but with thunder rumbling around the finish at the Avoriaz ski station it was dramatic.

'I was tired,' Ugrumov said. 'For the last five kilometres my legs were hurting.' Ever cautious, Indurain knew when he was beaten and said later that he rode to protect his lead. He also said that once the Tour had finished he might make an attempt on Graeme Obree's world hour record.

'Nothing has been decided yet but I have thought about it,' Indurain said. He said he would either go for Obree's record or race at the world championships next month.

Indurain has previously felt the Ugrumov presence. Last year on the last-but-one stage in the Tour of Italy, the 33-year-old attacked on a mountain and gave the world the first signs that Indurain was fallible. Indurain kept the leader's jersey that day, but only 58 seconds separated them at the finish. Yesterday, in the Savoy mountains, Ugrumov whacked Indurain by 3min 16sec in a time trial and gave the host nation a bad time into the bargain.

Virenque lost second place after a time trial he would rather forget. He finished more than six minutes slower than Ugrumov after slipping his gears at one point and almost falling when he got into trouble on a bend.

Then there was Pantani chasing Ugrumov to the 1,850m-heights of this ski resort above the town of Morzine. He, too, inflicted a beating on Indurain, by more than one and a half minutes, and the Italian is now third overall, to the eternal chagrin of the French, who three days ago had Virenque, Luc Leblanc and Armand de las Cuevas separating him from Indurain.

Ugrumov played a big part in the downfall of Indurain in the Tour of Italy last month. Then, his young Russian team-mate, Evgeny Berzin, had tormented Spanish fans with two time-trial beatings of their favourite, followed by overall defeat. Second on that occasion was Pantani, who announced his arrival in the top echelons by romping away with two mountain- stage successes.

Today's 208 kilometres from Morzine to Lac Saint-Point takes the race around the Franco-Swiss border, with one last mountain punctuating the least testing day for a week. The finale into Paris tomorrow is usually treated as a victory parade and starts, appropriately, at EuroDisney. After an exhausting three weeks the riders deserve a few laughs.

TOUR DE FRANCE 19th Stage (Cluses to Avoriaz, 47.5km, 29 miles): 1 P Ugrumov (Lat) Gewiss Ballan 1hr 22min 59sec; 2 M Pantani (It) Carrera +1min 38sec; 3 M Indurain (Sp) Banesto +3:16; 4 L Leblanc (Fr) Festina +3:50; 5 C Mottet (Fr) Novemail +4:12; 6 E Zaina (It) Gewiss Ballan +4:17; 7 V Poulnikov (Ukr) Carrera +4:26; 8 J-F Bernard (Fr) Banesto +4:31; 9 A Zulle (Swit) ONCE +4:49; 10 R Conti (It) Lampre +4:54; 11 R Sorensen (Den) GB MG same time; 12 V Bobrik (Rus) Gewiss Ballan +5:09; 13 G Bortolami (It) Mapei Clas +5:18; 14 M Ghirotto (It) ZG Mobili +5:29; 15 G Perini (It) ZG Mobili +5:56; 16 B Riis (Den) Gewiss Ballan +6:01; 17 F Chioccioli (It) Mercatone Uno +6:03; 18 R Virenque (Fr) Festina +6:04; 19 V Ekimov (Rus) WordPerfect +6:12; 20 A Olano (Sp) Kelme +6:14. Selected: 92 S Yates (GB) Motorola +12:21.

Leading overall standings: 1 Indurain 93hr 3min 58sec; 2 Ugrumov +5:39; 3 Pantani +7:19; 4 Leblanc +10:03; 5 Virenque +10:10; 6 Conti +12:29; 7 A Elli (It) GB MG +20:17; 8 Zulle +20:35; 9 U Bolts (Ger) Telkom +25:19; 10 Poulnikov +25:28; 11 P Lino (Fr) Festina +26:01; 12 F Escartin (Sp) Mapei Clas +30:38; 13 Bortolami +32:35; 14 Riis +33:32; 15 O Pellicioli (It) Polti +34:55; 16 N Rodriguez (Col) ZG Mobili +35:18; 17 Bernard +36:44; 18 H Buenahora (Col) Kelme +38:00; 19 Sorensen +42:39; 20 B Hamburger (Den) TVM +44:07. Selected: 71 Yates +2:04:45.

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