When I came to England they told me: 'Don't change anything - and don't try to make your accent sound English' so

When I came to England they told me: 'Don't change anything - and don't try to make your accent sound English', so I just talk."While Aliss delivers the tangential chit-chat of PG Wodehouse's oldest member and Alex Hay chips in with a tartan links philosophy that could have come out of a Burns collection, Marr is Damon Runyon: "Claude Harmon not only taught me most of what I know about the golf swing, he took me out of Argyll socks."Marr is clearly enjoying the fact that others seem to enjoy him "I think I've touched people in a nice way. I mean, you don't get carried away that you're doing the work of the Lord, but if it makes the audience a bit more entertained watching a golf show, then fine." When the Pro of 52nd Street, speaks, it's a lot more than fine.. So far this season I have not reached a peak, and that is frustrating."In 1997 I will start my serious racing later, possibly May, but it is down to my manager, Roger Legeay. My biggest concern from this Tour is that he might have lost confidence in me."On his appliance of sports science to his racing, he admitted: "It is an excellent way to prepare for specific objectives but trying to do it all year destroys your body."At the finish line yesterday, there were 129 bodies in various stages of destruction after 25 mountains, rain, snow, and searing heat, and with an average of 39.236kph, the second fastest of 83 Tours.The final stage over 147km from Palaiseau fell to Italian Fabio Baldato, who foiled a French victory charge by Frederic Moncassin, the winner of the first stage in the Netherlands who wore first the yellow then the green jersey in the first week.FINAL TOUR DE FRANCE DETAILSFINAL OVERALL STANDINGS1 B Riis (Den) Deutsche Telekom 95hr 57min 16sec2 J Ullrich (Ger) Deutsche Telekom +1min 41sec3 R Virenque (Fr) Festina +4:374 L Dufaux (Swit) Festina +5:535 P Luttenberger (Aut) Carrera +7:076 L Leblanc (Fr) Polti +10:037 P Ugrumov (Lat) Roslotto +10:048 F Escartin (Sp) Kelme +10:269 A Olano (Sp) Mapei +11:0010 T Rominger (Swit) Mapei +11:5311 M Indurain (Sp) Banesto +14:1412 P Jonker (Aus) ONCE +18:5813 B Hamburger (Den) TVM +22:1914 U Bolts (Ger) Deutsche Telekom +25:5615 A Elli (It) MG Technogym +26:1816 MF Gines (Sp) Mapei +26:2817 L Piepoli (It) Refin +27:3618 L Brochard (Fr) Festina +32:1119 M Bartoli (It) MG Technogym +37:1820 Y Berzin (Rus) Gewiss +38:00GB: 39 C Boardman GAN +1hr 27min 44secLEADING PLACINGS 21st stage, Palaiseau to Paris (147km)1 F Baldato (It) MG Technogym +3hr 30min 44sec2 F Moncassin (Fr) GAN same time3 J Blijlevens (Neth) TVM same time4 D Abdoujaparov (Uzb) Refin same time5 E Zabel (Ger) Deutsche Telekom same time6 R Sorensen (Den) Rabobank same time7 A Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto same time8 M Piccoli (It) Brescialat same time9 D Nelissen (Neth) Rabobank same time10 F Andreu (US) Motorola same time11 T Gouvenou (Fr) Aubervilliers same time12 M Fondriest (It) Roslotto same timeGB: 77 C Boardman GAN same timePoints classification (green jersey): E Zabel (Germany) Deutsche TelekomKing of the mountains (red polka-dot jersey): VirenqueBest young rider: UllrichBest team: FestinaTotal distance: 3,746.5kmNumber of starters: 198Number of finishers: 129.

Indurain quit his first two, and it took three more before he even won a stage.So Chris Boardman can reflect with pride that in three years he has had a win, worn the yellow jersey, and this year completed the 3,765 kilometres for the first time. Going the distance was his goal, and a wiser Boardman arrived in the Champs-Elysees yesterday, 39th overall and 1hr 27min behind Riis."Making mistakes is one thing, so long as you learn from them," said the Briton "Hopefully, I have I have already started working on next year. Having been a good worker for team leaders, Riis recognises devotion, and he repaid the work of Jan Ullrich by helping him into the runner-up spot.Riis lives at Steinsel in Luxembourg, where he settled as an amateur in 1985 to follow in the tracks of other leading Danes, particularly Kim Andersen, the first from his country to wear the Tour's yellow jersey 13 years ago.Beneath his home is a cellar housing 600 bottles of red wine. Some of these could soon be opened because apart from Riis's triumph, his team Deutsche Telekom also took the green jersey for consistent high finishing with German sprinter Erik Zabel.He also won two stages, but the icing on Godefroot's gateau was Ullrich.

The 22-year-old German finished second overall, one minute and 41 seconds behind Riis, won Saturday's time trial stage at Saint Emilion, beating Riis and Indurain, considered the supremo of against-the-clock racing, and took the best young rider prize - all in his first Tour.Godefroot is convinced that with the right preparation he has another Tour winner, "because Jan has all the necessary talents." Completing a Tour on your debut is achievement enough. A year later, the Dane was in Fignon's Super- U squad after a tough apprenticeship in a small team where he had to prepare his own food, seldom had a daily massage, and was paid FF4,000 (pounds 500) a month."I had a blank year in 1988 and I thought my career was over before it had really started. I have had top team managers, but never a team at my service. With team support, I thought I could win a Tour," Riis said after fifth place in 1993 and third in last year's Tour.The man who unleashed his potential, Walter Godefroot, was asked by Riis: "I know I can win - will the team work for me?" "If you behave like a leader, then you will gain their support," Godefroot said. "He was strong enough to join an attack in the Tour of Italy, but would not leave me," Fignon said. "I told him to take his chance, and he won the stage."The Frenchman had spotted the strengths of Riis when they had contested the 1988 Tour de l'Avenir. For years Riis served the cause of other riders, particularly Laurent Fignon, Moreno Argentin, and Yevgeny Berzin, before being uncorked.His faithfulness as a lieutenant is remembered by Fignon, twice winner of the Tour.