Sandy Casar Of France Wins 18th Stage Of Doping-Tainted Tour De France

SANGOULEME, France (AP) _ Sandy Casar crashed after hitting a spectator's dog but won the 18th stage of the Tour de France before home fans Friday. Alberto Contador of Spain kept the overall lead as

Friday, July 27th 2007, 9:38 am

By: News On 6

SANGOULEME, France (AP) _ Sandy Casar crashed after hitting a spectator's dog but won the 18th stage of the Tour de France before home fans Friday. Alberto Contador of Spain kept the overall lead as the doping-stained race neared its weekend finish in Paris.

Casar scraped his hip in the crash and went on to win a Tour stage for the first time. He prevailed in a sprint among four cyclists who broke away from the main pack during the 131-mile ride from Cahors to Angouleme.

The 29-year-old Frenchman pumped his right fist as he crossed the line in 5 hours, 13 minutes, 31 seconds. He was folowed by Axel Merckx of Belgium and Laurent Lefevre of France.

``Finally! It's been awhile that I've been waiting for this,'' Casar said. ``I almost dropped out after the fall _ I didn't see it coming.''

Tom Boonen of Belgium cemented his hold on the green jersey given to the race's best sprinter by leading the pack across the finish line, 8:34 after Casar.

With the race heading into Saturday's crucial stage _ a 35-mile individual time trial from Cognac to Angouleme _ Contador narrowly extended his lead over Cadel Evans by three seconds. The second-placed Australian trails Contador by 1:50 with two stages left. U.S. rider Levi Leipheimer is third, 2:49 back.