[Tour 2002]- Stage 12 (really)

CycloFiend Tour Addict race-report@cyclofiend.com
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 08:39:31 -0700


In my excitement and hurry, I mislabeled yesterday's report - suffice to
say that today _is_ the 12th stage...

Rider Update: Jonathan Vaughters will not start today after a hefty
crash yesterday, giving him a set of four for four for not finishing...
Michael Sanstod is still in observation in the hospital, after breaking
8 ribs in yesterday's crash and continuing to have trouble breathing and
they suspect he might have broken his collarbone.  Sprinter Jan Kirsipuu
decided that the remaining miles did not suit him either and missed the
sign-in this morning.

Stage 12 - Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille - 199 km

Beginning at 600 meters above sea level to a finish 1780 meters.  Just
the little matter of the the 4 other mountains they must cross before
that long, nasty climb to the finish.  We pick up the riders 80 km from
the finish, and at first, my inclination is to check that I'm not
watching yesterday's tape - Jalabert is again off the front!  He's gone
away again with Laurent Dufaux, the Swiss leader of Allessio, and ONCE's
Isidro Nozal, who is doing nothing to assist the break other than
sitting on the back wheel and munching on snacks.

The KoM has fluttered over to the shoulders of Jalabert, as he led over
the early climbs with his two breakaway companions.

A hugely hot day today - 23 C on the peaks - 35 C in the valleys - yep
that there's near 100 F.  Helmets are not the order of the day.
Maybe the heat has gotten to Carlos Sastre of CSC-Tiscali...was that
actually Christoph Moreau?... whacking at each other before the  last
couple climbs. Nowhere to hide from the plethora of cameras, and they
may face expulsion from the race.

The peloton also rolled past the Fabio Casartelli memorial monumentwas
passed by today on the road of the Portet d'Aspet.


Robbie McEwen took the Sprint points, but Zabel crossed the line in
second, to preserve his lead by one point.

Dufaux, Jalabert & Nozal now 5: 10 in front of the yellow jersey group,
after the twisting descent and swoop into Oust - a beautiful Pyreneen
town,

Virenque had managed to pull a group together as they went over the Col
de Core, but they are getting chased down now that they're down on the
flats - except for the opportunist Eddie Mazzoleni from Tacconi Sport.
Again he fires rolls away and works pretty quickly out to a minute lead,
while the yellow jersey group closes in on the group

The final climb is 16 km, 8% grade, and doesn't get level until right
near the finish line.

Today's Trivia Question:
When where the Pyrenees first included in the Tour de France?

Today's Trivia Answer:
1910
(well, I was close - thought it was 1913)

Current Situation on the Road
Tete de la Cours - Dufaux/Jalabert/Nozal
3:50 back - Mazzoleni
4:53 back - Yellow Jersey group

The USPS continues to drive the pace, mostly behind the efforts of
Vlatchislav Ekimov, as they head toward the climb of the Col de Port.

Team Race takes the finishing time of each team's third placed rider,
and adds it together to derive the combined time.

With around 55 km to go, the main field has now begun the climb of the
Col.  12.5 km's of climbing, with an average grade of around 5%.  The
threesome off the front ease upwards through the heat.  In the yellow
jersey group, Unai Extebarria and David Extebarria become detached from
the bunch, as Floyd Landis takes over the pacemaking at the front of the
group.  Former mountain biker Miguel Martinez, trading his dirty jerseys
for cracklin' clean Mapei colors, works exceptionally hard to stay
attached to the bunch.  He's a featherweight climbin' boy, but the pace,
heat and general destructive qualities of a three week bike race seem to
be combining to work against him. The gap holds at around 5 minutes.


Jalabert nabs the 20 KoM points as he rolls over the Col de Port.

About 4 and half minutes later,  opportunist Virenque scoots away, all
elbows and no neck, and nabs 4th place points with Carlos Sastre in hot
pursuit.

At the crest of the mountain, 4:39 gap.

On the descent, Axel Merckx and Domo teammate Tomas Konecny have moved
away from the group on the descent, along with Andrea Peron, after
linking up with the Virenque/Sastre pair. With only 37 km to go, no
one's really going to bust a gut to pull the small group back

Now rolling on the flat  roads, with 7 USPS riders leading the man in
yellow, trailed by another USPS.  11 teams still have full compliments.
The time gap of 4:19 to the Jalabert group remains to be attacked on the
climb, and although Virenque and Sastre have been engulfed, Merckx and
Konecny pull one another in a two-man time trial through no-man's land.
Merckx gets nabbed in short order, as Konecny leads by himself into a
small town before the final climb.

In a crushing blow to morale, an advertisment for "Silver Care"
Insurance Plan now includes people born in the year of my birth... I
gotta start muting the commericals.

After reeling in the cheeky Czech, the lead group rolls under the 20 km
to go banner, well into their 5th hour of racing.  The peloton rolls
past a beautiful crisp, clear river that tempts them to cast off their
Carnacs and plunge in for refreshment.

Armstrong rolls along, enjoying his yellow jersey, and some of the
contenders begin to mass behind him near the head of the group.
Somehow, they seem more like the kids who were always trying to catch up
with their older brothers.

Before the leaders even get to the climb, a huge crowd begins to litter
the side of the roadway.  It immediately thickens as the road begins to
head up the lower part of  hte slopes.  There are several pitches of 10
- 12 % that kick off this mountain. They need to mentally steel
themselves for (at best) a 45 minute ascent. The more intense efforts of
the still-on-the-flats lead group has chopped the lead down to 3:00.

So, the question looms before us - what would Lance do?

For some reason, I think he'd like to see Laurent Jalabert take the
stage, and might not make a crushing attack just to bring him back.

The camera rolls through the wreckage at the back of the peloton.
Sprinters who hung on, Zabel and O'Grady for example, are beinning to
drift backwards

Up front, Floyd Landis sets the pace.  ONCE fires Marcus Serrano off the
front of the peloton and gains a quick 20 meters. No one panics from the
Posties, as they know exactly how much up there is to climb.  Chechu now
sets pace, as Landis drops away after his efforts..

Riders begin to litter the roadway as the USPS-set pace doesn't flinch
before the onslaught of the incline.  Bobby Julich falls off the pace
and breathes in the exhaust while among the team cars.  Inigo Cuesta -
another noted climber -  also has found himself in among the internal
combustion department.  Every rider seems to be seeing first feet and
then meters appearing before them and the riders in front.

Jalabert has popped away from his companions, knowing that his partners
were weakening and his gap was down to only 1:51.  He notches into his
climbing cadence, and has just under 13 km of pain before him.

Andrei Kivilev, Santiago Botero, Raimondas Rumsas and Joseba Beloki are
confirmed to be still with the Armstrong group.  Team cars are being
pulled off the front as they rip up the roadway toward the leaders - the
gap gap is closing in on a minutes.  Leipheimer has been spat out the
back and finds himself riding next to Axel Merkcx and Tyler Hamilton. A
few ONCE riders remain in the lead group, but they are slowly sliding
back towards the wrong end of the increasingly select group.

The Devil runs alongside Jalabert as the climb continues.  Back in the
bunch, Nozal gets reabsorbed, followed quickly by the catch of Dufaux.

Jose Azevedo and Oscar Sevilla have been popped away out the back, as
the lead group rolls under the 10 km to go banner.  Heras is hanging
out, climbing easily in the back of the group. Finally - and somewhat
sadly - Jalabert looks over and sees the USPS led lead train chugging up
towards the finish.  He smiles up at Armstrong and wonders how much
damage will be done.  Chechu Rubiera slightly increases his cadence as
they swoop around the switchback.  USPS  just manage to keep ticking the
pedals over ever faster.  Sevilla will not say quit, and yo-yos toward
the lead group, unable to close the gap but unwilling to drift any
further backwards.

Leipheimer finds a reserve tank and moves forward a bit, at least moving
up past the failing Jalabert. Hamilton notches in next to Jalabert for a
while.

Armstrong has moved up a gear and dances out of the saddle for a while.
Botero and Kivilev also choose the out of the saddle approach, while the
sand-in-the-pocket-for-a-crosswind crowd spin along in the saddle.
Three ONCE boys sit in behind Armstrong, but Heras just quietly bides
his time in the back.  The climbing of Rubiera is just crushing, and
only 11 riders are left in the lead group - three USPS & three ONCE.
Lance checks in over the radio, then grabs a snackie from his pocket.

The pace comes up another notch as they hit a steep bit, and Andrei
Kivilev pops off the back.  Heras now raises his pace, easily moves up
and takes over the lead, as Rubiera peels off.  Beloki is the only one
who can hold his wheel, and everyone falls away in a matter of meters.
Lance lifts his revs slightly and moves away alone, edging up the
roadway as Beloki is set upon by a crowd of orange-shirted Basques,
slobbering and screaming for him to move up after Armstrong.  Heras sits
on Beloki's wheel, mentally anchoring him as Armstrong keeps looking
back to see what kind of damage he has done.  Armstrong dances on the
pedals on what even appears on the television to be steep, but doesn't
seem to be uncorking a massive effort.  Yet he's just riding away from
Beloki who seems to crumple.

Back among the chasers, the damage is clearly evident - Santiago Botero
hunches like Igor from a  Frankenstein film as he curls into a
near-fetal position under the efforts of his climbing.  The real Igor -
Gonzalez de Galdeano sets himself into a steely-eyed determination, but
clearly has lost coordination in his pedal stroke. Virenque is drooling
openly, sweat coursing off of his dynamic chin.

Despite the exhaltations of the Basques, the gap keeps opening as Beloki
struggles and whimpers.  Armstrong goes under the 5 km to go banner.
Beloki is trying to limit his losses.  But Heras watches Beloki
suffering and fires away up the hill.  If he could get up to Armstrong,
there's no question that Lance would repay him with the stage victory.
Heras is up around the next switchback and throws it into a whole nother
gear.  He now begins to sweat a little.  Armstrong has at least unzipped
his jersey as he knocks out a tremendous cadence.

Armstrong continues his cadence as Heras just flies upward with the
support of the the Basques.  Under the 4 km to go banner, Heras crosses
under 12 seconds later, and Beloki reaches down deeply into his socks to
find something to reduce his 25 second defecit.

Heras eases up as they get up to the 3 km banner.  He's become a
dangling carrot for Beloki, who has found a few micrograms of blood
sugar and raises his pace as the gradiant lessens.  Heras waits for the
ONCE rider and easily slots in behind him.  Up front, Armstrong punches
an even larger gear.  Botero is in the drops, elbows around his ears,
but fighting to manage his losses along with Igor Gonzalezde Galdeano.
Under the 2 km banner, Armstrong continues to fly - the crowd going
insane as they wave the flags and share exhortations in 20 different
languages

The gap at 2 km was 42 seconds, while Botero/de Galdeano are 1:10 back.
Lance is into the barriers and continues to fly up the roadway toward
the finish.  Jalabert has now dropped about 3 km back.  Ahead of
Armstrong, the 1 km banner looms, and he continus to spin his high
cadence while 57 seconds later Beloki tows Heras under the same spot.

Up the roadway, it's All Armstrong All The Time, as he continues to roll
over the pedals and increase the gap.  He zips up his malliot juane and
gives it a two handed victory salute, with a resounding clap as he wins
his 14th career stage of the Tour..

Heras smoothly rolls around Beloki as they see the finish banner and
takes away the time bonuses for second place. Beloki can only marvel at
the teamwork.

Leipheimer comes across 2:10 back, in a group of four riders.  Dufaux
rolls in with Vladimir Belli and Ivan Basso, just under 7:00 in arrears.

Jalabert is ferried up to the line by Bobby Julich and two Bonjour
riders  - The crowd gives him a huge cheer, egged on by Frank Renier
riding just behind him off of his right hand shoulder.  Another huge
cheer rings out as he regains the Polka Dot KoM Jersey.  He smiles
broadly on the podium.

Stage 12 -
6:00:29  Avg speed 33 km/hr (19 mi/hr)
1 - Lance Armstrong - USPS
2 - Roberto Heras - USPS 1:04
3 - Joseba Beloki - ONCE 1:04
4 - Santiago Botero - Kelme 1:11
5 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - ONCE 1:11
6 - Raimondas Rumsas - Lampre 1:23
7 - Carlos Sastre - 1:33
8 - Oscar Sevilla - Kelme 2:08
9 - Andrei Kivilev - Cofidis 2:15


GC -
Mailliot Juane - Lance Armstrong - USPS
2 - Joseba Beloki - 2:28
3 - Santiago Botero - 3:19
4 - Raimondas Rumsas  - 5:15

Polka Dot -
Laurent Jalabert - CSC-Tiscali

White Jersey -
Ivan Basso - Fasso Bortolo

Green Jersey -
Erik Zabel - Deutsche Telekom

Stage 13  - Lavelanet - Beziers - 171 km
Could be a rest day, could be hellishly difficult if the attackers and
sprinters unlimber themselves after a three categorized climbs start the
day.  After the 50 km point, it's a steady downhill to the coastal town
of Beziers.