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July 23, 2004

Stage 18: Annemasse - Lons-le-Saunier

Had a quick coffee in the morning and headed off for Lons-le-Saunier, where stage 18 finishes.
Not much happening in this stage. Juan Miguel Mercado was in a long break away and ended winning. There was something going on between Armstrong and Simeoni (who is suing Armstrong) as they both joined the break and then both dropped back. I was at about the 700 meters to go point. Pictures below are from the race and from the the town of Lons-le-Saunier.

Results
Stage 18
1 Juan Miguel Mercado (Quick Step-Davitamo)
2 José V. Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears - Banesto)
3 Dmitri Fofonov (Cofidis) -0:11
4 Sébastien Joly (Crédit Agricole)
5 Marc Lotz (Rabobank)
6 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Fassa Bortolo)
7 Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) -11:29
8 Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo)
9 Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner)
10 Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis)

General Classification
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -0:04:09
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -0:05:11
4 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:08:08
5 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -0:10:41
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -0:11:45
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -0:12:56
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -0:15:14
9 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:16:25
10 Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio-Bianchi) -0:16:33