Armstrong back on bike in Colorado

Not since his last victory ride down the Champs-Elysees in 2005 has a finish line looked so sensational to Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France champion took second place in the Leadville Trail 100 on Saturday in Leadville, Colo., pushing six-time defending champion Dave Wiens to a record time in the “Race Across the Sky,” a lung-searing 100-mile mountain bike race through the Rockies.

“I was empty at the end just in terms of fuel. I just haven’t had seven-hour rides,” Armstrong said after his first finish in a competitive bike race since he retired following his seventh straight triumph in the Tour de France.

Wiens crossed the finish on a flat back tire in 6 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds, shaving 13 minutes off the record he set last year while holding off Floyd Landis.

Armstrong crossed 1 minute, 56 seconds later on a cool, cloudy afternoon.

“The guy that I raced today wasn’t the guy who won the Tours, so I don’t put myself in that category,” Wiens said. “But it was great of him to come out and do this race and to race with all the people. He’s a class act out there. It was fun. We didn’t talk a whole lot because it seemed like it was pretty much business.”

Armstrong, who has turned his competitive juices to running marathons since he retired from competitive cycling three years ago, had said before the race he’d be happy with a top-five finish.

Wiens suggested before the race that Armstrong was either selling himself short or setting him up, and sure enough Armstrong pushed him like nobody ever had.

“At the end I realized I was thoroughly cooked, but I said, ‘I am having a good time,’ ” Armstrong said. “That’s why I wanted to come out here. I didn’t expect to beat this guy so I just wanted have something out there to shoot for, train for, stay in shape for, and it was a blast. It really was.”

So, will he be back?

“I think so,” Armstrong said, adding: “I won’t come back unless I’m in shape. And I feel like I’m in decent shape. You can’t show up to this race if you’re not in shape. So it just depends on how I train. I’d love to be back.”

Golf

Finalists set in U.S. Women’s Amateur

Duke star Amanda Blumenherst and NCAA champion Azahara Munoz advanced to the U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

Blumenherst, the three-time national college player of the year, beat 15-year-old Erynne Lee of Silverdale, Wash., 3 and 2. Munoz, the Arizona State star from Spain, held off compatriot and close friend Belen Mozo 4 and 3.

Blumenherst, a two-time Curtis Cup player, reached the 36-hole final for the second straight year. Last year at Crooked Stick, she lost 1-up to Maria Uribe.

“I thought I played pretty well,” said Lee, who qualified for the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. “This was a really neat experience.”

Duke’s Virada Nirapathpongporn, in 2003, was the last college winner.

“Us college girls were due,” Blumenherst said.

Horse racing

Spirit One wins Arlington Million

French-based Spirit One won the 26th running of the Arlington Million at Arlington Heights, Ill., leading from start to finish for an upset victory over an international field of seven turf horses.

Winning jockey Ioritz Mendizabal raised his arm in triumph after Spirit Open turned back favored Archipenko by three-quarters of a length.

Tennis

Roddick advances to final round

Andy Roddick overpowered Denis Gremelmayr 6-2, 6-2 to set up a showdown against Juan Martin del Potro for the Countrywide Classic title.

Del Potro, a rangy 19-year-old Argentine who’s on a roll, made quick work of Mardy Fish in taking a 6-2, 6-1 victory in their afternoon semifinal.