Cycling: The American dominance of the Tour de France looks set to continue as Floyd Landis remained in pole position to win this year's title going into the final weekend of action.
Landis' amazing win in Morzine yesterday left him in the driving seat to carry on where compatriot and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong left off going into tomorrow's time trial in Le Creusot.
The Phonak team rider remained in third place overall, just 30 seconds behind yellow jersey holder Oscar Pereiro, after today's stage 18 in Macon, which was won by Quick Step rider Matteo Tosatto.
And with his time trial record - he finished second in the first 'contre la montre' - Landis is the bookmakers' favourite to comfortably overhaul that deficit in Le Creusot.
Tosatto won a three-man sprint finish to claim the stage victory ahead of Christian Moreni and Ronny Scholz.
The trio made their break from a 15-man leading group with 15km remaining after Levi Leiphemer and Inaki Isasi had been chased down.
After a lethargic stage following three exhausting days in the Alps, Leiphemer and Isasi had made a seemingly decisive break with 50km remaining of the 197km stage, but were reeled in after 30km in front and were left trailing by the trio's sprint
Tosatto said: "When I started as a professional I was told that you haven't really arrived until you win a stage on the Tour. I'm delighted as the three of us were really tired."
Pereiro admitted after the race that the final result depends on Saturday's time trial.
"I want to think about how good it's been for me over the last few days. It will be the most important time trial of my life but I have learnt on this tour to never give up."
One race that looks to be decided is that for the green jersey (best sprinter).
Second-placed Oscar Freire pulled out of the Tour at the start of today's stage, leaving Davitamon rider Robbie McEwen in total control.
The Australian now leads Erik Zabel in the points standings by 82 points with two stages to go, and effectively owns his third green jersey.
Freire, whose wife gave birth to a son Marcos during Monday's rest day, was reportedly suffering from a fever.
Meanwhile, Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, has been sacked by his T-Mobile team.
The 32-year-old was withdrawn from this year's Tour by his team before it started when he was linked by the media to an investigation in Spain into alleged blood doping.
"The sacking by T-Mobile is not acceptable for me," Ullrich said. "I am very disappointed that I was not informed personally of this decision but only by fax." PA