Tour de France : Fignon and LeMond Remain the Top Two

MONTPELLIER, France â€”  Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond stayed one-two in the Tour de France standings after the 12th stage Thursday on a day made eventful only by a group of demonstrators who blocked the road in an environmental protest.

Otherwise, the overall standings remained the same with Fignon of France leading LeMond of the United States by seven seconds with 10 days remaining in the race.

Thursday’s leg was 150 miles from Toulouse to Montpellier as red-brick buildings and wheat fields gave way to remnants of the Roman civilization.

Italians Valerio Tebaldi and Giancarlo Perini and Frenchman Dominique Arnaud moved ahead early and gradually built a 29-minute advantage over the rest of the group.

Tebaldi eventually won in a sprint over Perini in 5 hours 40 minutes 54 seconds with Arnaud in third, more than two minutes back.

The rest of the field trailed by more than 21 minutes, which included Fignon in 25th and LeMond in 46th.

The overall standings were relatively unchanged as the riders seemed to be conserving their strength for the Alps that loom ahead.

Fignon maintained his seven-second advantage over LeMond.

Third-place Charly Mottet of France is 57 seconds behind, with defending titlist Pedro Delgado of Spain in fourth .

Andy Hampsten of the United States is fifth.

The only excitement of the day came when some protesters tried to block the way through a narrow passage about 12 miles from the finish.

About a dozen people protesting the location of garbage fields in the area placed some trees and rocks on the road, but cycling fans and officials jumped to clear the barricades.

A television reporter was punched by one of the demonstrators, and the main pack of ridershad to stop after a few riders fell.

However, there were no serious delays and the results were not affected by theincident.

Today, the riders go from Montpellier to Marseille on Bastille Day, the French national holiday. Marseille is the country’s oldest city and gave the French national anthem its name, the Marseillaise.

The race continues its 2,020-mile counterclockwise journey around France ending in Paris on July 23.

In the women’s Tour de France, Monique Knol of the Netherlands retained the lead by winning the second stage, the 53-mile leg from Bedarieux to Montpellier.

Knol was timed in 2 hours 7 minutes 27 seconds. After winning the prologue Tuesday and the first stage Wednesday, she holds a 17-second lead in the overall standings over two-time champion Jeannie Longo of France.

Jutta Niehaus of West Germany, who was second, faded more than four minutes behind Thursday, dropping to 45th overall.

American Susan Elias is third, 35 seconds back.

This year the women’s competition is shorter than usual but has more mountain climbs. The 482-mile, 11-stage race ends before the men’s Tour in Paris on July 23.