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Weekend MLB—Giants at Padres, Sat, 5:30 p.m., Sun, 1 p.m.; CSNB MLB— Angels at Athletics, Sat, 4 p.m., Sun, 1 p.m., CSNC British Open — Saturday, 4 a.m.; Sunday, 3 a.m., ESPN Tour de France — Saturday, 3:30 a.m., Sunday, 5 a.m., VS SUN—World Cup Final — Japan vs. USA, 11 a.m., ESPN SUN— NASCAR —Lenox Industrial Tools 301, 10 a.m., TNT Sports 1B Weekend July 16-17, 2011 Never too old Tour riders await climb in Pyrenees By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer LOURDES, France (AP) — The most grueling stage yet of the Tour de France looms in the Pyrenees in what promis- es to be the race’s first major turning point. ‘‘It’s going to be one of the key days,’’ two-time runner- up Cadel Evans said. ‘‘There’ll be fireworks, don’t worry.’’ The test comes Saturday, a day after after Norway’s Thor Hushovd won the 13th stage and France’s Thomas Voeckler kept the yellow jersey. It gets serious now, with Evans ready to take on defend- ing champion Alberto Contador and the Schleck brothers. Contador’s right knee is still bruised but healing. The Schleck brothers are racing with — or against — each other depending on who is to be believed. Evans, an Australian, is gliding over obstacles with the cool of a surfer negotiating crushing waves. Saturday’s stage is the third consecutive day in the Pyrenees. The 105-mile ride from Saint-Gaudens to Plateau de Beille starts with a sharp climb up Col de Portet d’Aspet followed by two ascents up Col de la Core and Col d’Agnes. It finishes with a 10-mile climb to Plateau de Beille, a famed ascent that has a reputation for making, or breaking, contenders. Although Evans and the Schlecks all took some time off three-time champion Contador in Thurs- day’s 12th stage, the damage was not enough to seriously hurt Contador’s chances. ‘‘I will have to see my legs hold up and what the others do,’’ the Spaniard said. ‘‘But if I get the chance, I will attack.’’ He said he had a ‘‘little niggle’’ in his knee at the begin- ning of the stage, but after that was fine. He banged the same knee in two crashes. Contador finished Friday’s stage nestled with Evans and the Schlecks. The contenders let others do the attacking on a 95-mile run that started from Pau and ended in Lourdes, home to one of the most famous Catholic shrines. Voeckler leads Frank Schleck — the older of the two Schlecks — by nearly two minutes. But Voeckler is not a Tour contender and will probably lose the lead Saturday. Frank Schleck is 17 seconds ahead of Evans, 28 seconds ahead of his younger brother Andy Schleck — twice a Tour runner-up to Contador — and 2:11 clear of Contador. The Schlecks combined with Evans to distance Contador Courtesy photos Dairyville’s Greg Gilchrist has went from mid-life crisis to being an Ironman competitor. Special to the DN A Dairyville man is crediting a mid- life crisis for the biggest athletic accomplishment of his life. Greg Gilchrist, 46, recently com- pleted the Ford Ironman Triathlon in Couer d’Alene Idaho. The race con- sists of a 2.4-mile open water swim, a 112-mile bike ride and culminates with a 26.2 mile run for a total distance of 140.6 miles. All the legs of the race are completed consecutively with a cut-off time of 17 hours. Gilchrist signed up for the race last year much to the surprise of his friends and family. His journey toward becoming an Ironman started about six years ago before his 40th birthday. “Turning 40 does weird things to men. All of a sudden I felt like I had to test my body. So, I did a marathon, then I started doing short distance triathlons. None of the races killed me so I just kept doing more. After watch- ing the Ironman championships In Hawaii on tv I knew I had to try it. Plus, I never shaved my legs before and I thought this would be the perfect excuse,” Gilchrist said. But Gilchrist didn’t go into this without a plan. He followed a strict training pro- gram for four months that had him dodging wild pigs and skunks on pre- dawn runs on the back roads of Dairyville. He logged thousands of miles on his bike, enduring shouts of ridicule from passing motorists who apparently don’t understand the reasoning behind span- dex cycling shorts. But, Gilchrist says, it was the pool workouts that were the most challeng- ing. “I really suck at swimming. It’s embarrassing how slow I am. I just beat the water into a froth and go nowhere,” Gilchrist joked. On race morning, more than 2,500 triathletes lined the beach of Lake Couer d’Alene, Gilchrist was among them. Thirteen hours and nine minutes after the starting cannon went off, Gilchrist crossed the finish line an Iron- man. “It was emotional,” said Gilchrist. “My whole family was there cheering for me. I would have cried but I think I sweated out all my tears on the run.” Asked if he would ever consider doing another one? “Yeah. I got this Ironman tattoo on my right calf so, I guess I have to now.” Gilchrist is a walnut grower and owns California Walnut Company, a walnut processing plant in Dairyville. somewhat on Thursday. Contador thinks they picked the wrong enemy, and now must target Evans on Saturday to make up time on him. Contador may not have his best climbing legs yet, but he can still play mind games with the best of them. ‘‘Despite everything, it’s the Schleck brothers who have to attack,’’ Contador said. ‘‘Their situation is quite compli- cated. I think they missed a chance yesterday (Thursday) to put some time on Evans, who is very strong in time trials. They have to get the race going tomorrow.’’ Contador’s is playing on the possibility that the Schlecks could end up in a brotherly clash since neiter has won the Tour. Do they put fraternity before ambition? Does the 31-year- old Frank step aside for the 26-year-old Andy? Does Andy quell his burning desire to surpass Contador and help Frank if the going gets tough? ‘‘We should be over that question. There’s never going to be a war, there’s never going to be any fighting between us,’’ Frank Schleck said. ‘‘The important thing is that one of us two wins the Tour de France. That’s our dream and we’ll do everything to make sure that it comes true.’’ While the contenders took it easy Friday, Hushovd pow- ered to the ninth individual stage win of his career. He has also won two team time trials, including this year with the Garmin-Cervelo team. A burly sprinter by trade, the 33-year-old Norwegian is developing into a competent climber and an excellent down- hill specialist. Clarke, Glover lead a wide open British Open SANDWICH, England (AP) — Darren Clarke marched along bumpy fair- ways on a wild ride at Royal St. George’s that was filled with blunders and brilliance, and one final birdie that brought the kind of ovation he had not heard in a decade at the British Open. Right behind him was Lucas Glover, far more steady in closing his solid round with eight straight pars. When a sun-baked and wind-blown second round finally ended Friday, they shared the lead in a major that is living up to its proper name. The Open Championship is every bit of that. Before anyone could get excited about the prospects of Clarke delivering yet another major to Northern Ireland, all it took was one look down the leaderboard — all the way to the bottom — to realize this champi- onship was just getting start- ed. Only seven shots separat- ed first from worst going into the weekend. ‘‘There’s still two days of tough golf and tough weath- er ahead of us,’’ Clarke said. Clarke, a forgotten figure as Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy captured the U.S. Open the last two years, bounced back from a double bogey to make a 90- foot eagle putt and survived a few more hiccups on his way to another 2-under 68. Glover, playing the kind of golf that won him a U.S. Open two years ago in New York, has made only three bogeys in the opening two rounds. He had a 70 to join Clarke in the lead at 4-under 136. ‘‘Unlike often when you’re in contention in a championship where it may be between six, seven, eight of you, now it’s between the whole field,’’ Thomas Bjorn said. ‘‘You’ve just got to go out there and knuckle down and see where it gets you to on Sunday afternoon.’’ Bjorn (72) was one shot behind along with PGA champion Martin Kaymer (69), Chad Campbell (68) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (71). The 29 players within four shots of the lead includ- ed U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, who met his goal of getting to even par for the tournament with a spectacular save from a buried lie in the pot bunker in front of the 18th green. McIlroy will play Satur- day for the third straight time with Rickie Fowler, a fellow 22-year-old who fought his way to a 70 and then summed up the state of this British Open going into the weekend. ‘‘It’s basically a new tournament starting tomor- row,’’ Fowler said. That won’t be the case for Luke Donald, who became the second No. 1 player this year to miss the cut in a major. His hopes ended when his ball plugged so badly in a bunker on the 17th that he had to play back toward the fairway, only to see it roll back into the sand. Donald at least was in good company. Lee Westwood at No. 2 also missed the cut and refused to speak to reporters. Even with a beloved fig- ure like Clarke in the lead, nothing is drawing more attention than the weather. The forecast is strong wind and increasing rain late in the morning, followed by heavy rain and even stronger gusts in the afternoon. Depending on the weather, it could be a repeat of 10 years ago at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, when David Duval started the third round seven shots out of the lead and wound up with a share of the lead by the end of the day. ‘‘There’s an awful long way to go yet, and I believe the forecast for the weekend is very, very poor, which I quite look forward to,’’ Clarke said. ‘‘But the course is going to play very, very tough. If that’s the case, then the tournament is still wide open for an awful lot of players.’’ So many players, in fact, that it was easy to overlook Phil Mickelson, who has never fared well at the British Open and suddenly finds himself within three shots of the lead going into the weekend. ‘‘I’m looking forward to that challenge, and I’m hop- ing I’ve got the shots now to be effective in it,’’ Mickel- son said. The eclectic mix of con- tenders still includes 20- year-old amateur Tom Lewis, who shared the lead after the first round with a 65 and held it together until the end of his round when he three-putted the 17th and was fortunate to make bogey on the final hole. His shot from the rough went over the green and was headed out of bounds until the ball hit the stake. He shot 74, and was still only three shots behind. On the other end of the spectrum was 61-year-old Tom Watson, who put on another memorable show with a hole-in-one on the sixth hole, hitting a pure 4- iron from 160 yards into the wind that took one hop and banged off the pin before dropping into the cup. ‘‘They’re all lucky when they go in,’’ Watson said. ‘‘But that’s what I was aim- ing at.’’ The group at 2-under 138 included a former Ryder Cup captain in Tom Lehman (67) and the current captain in Davis Love III (68). They were joined by Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, who has experience with a crowded leaderboard. He was among eight players who had a share of the lead on the final day at Augusta National until he birdied the last four holes to win by two. McIlroy was the favorite going into the British Open, and it’s hard to rule him out at only four shots behind. At times the kid looked as though he was ready to make a move, only to miss a key putt for find a bunker that led to bogey. Even so, he was right where he needed to be. ‘‘I think you’ll see a lot of chopping and changing at the top of the leaderboard,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s the most open Open I’ve seen in a long time. Yeah, I think it’ll be excited to be a part of, and it’ll be excited to watch over the next two days.’’ It wasn’t much fun for him to be watching from his house early Friday, when the day started under so much sunshine and so little wind that low scores were antici- pated until the gusts arrived in the afternoon, about the time McIlroy was to tee off. ‘‘It’s the first Open Championship round I’ve played in short sleeves the whole time,’’ Glover said. But it didn’t work out that way. There were enough tricky pins to keep anyone from doing better than a 67, and as lunchtime approached, the wind shift- ed to the opposite direction and made the closing holes as tough as ever. Glover fired at a tight pin on No. 2 for birdie, and picked up another shot on the downwind, par-5 sev- enth that could easily be reached in two. A bogey on the 10th hole was his last of the round. ‘‘I didn’t hole as many putts as I did yesterday,’’ Glover said. ‘‘But I’m happy to grind out even par.’’ It was the first time Glover has put together con- secutive rounds at par or bet- ter. Clarke got into trouble on No. 4 when he missed the green to the right, his chip didn’t get up the slope and he wound up missing a 4- foot putt to take double bogey. Then came the long eagle, a birdie on the next hole and a back nine that featured three bogeys, three birdies and three pars.