[Tour 2002]- Stage 19

CycloFiend Tour Addict race-report@cyclofiend.com
Sat, 27 Jul 2002 17:48:43 -0700


Stage 19 - Individual Time Trial - Reegnie-Durette to Macon - 50 km

The final Time Trial of the 2002 Tour has begun, riders contesting
places and bragging rights, and in many cases contractual leverage, in a
hot summer day in the middle of France.  It's a bright, clear, sunny
day, with some breezes kicking up on parts of the course. This course
has all the climbing in the first half, with the riders heading upwards
for a healthy 1,000 foot climb over the first 10.5 km, before dropping
back down to a slightly lower elevatioin and negotiating rolling
countryside before heading into the picturesque city of Macon.  It is a
tough course, which beckons the riders to blow themselves out mightily
over the first 3rd.

There are a few places at stake, of course, but, barring accident or
sabotage, it shouldn't include the yellow jersey.

Before we geek out with time splits and the efforts of top riders, a
quick reminder on the top ten:
Malliot Juane - Lance Armstrong 77 hrs 30:35
2 - Joseba Beloki - 5:06
3 - Ramondas Rumsas - 7:24
4 - Santiago Botero - 10:59
5 - Jose Azevedo - 12:08
6 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - 12:12
7 - Francisco Mancebo - 12:28
8 - Roberto Heras - 12:54
9 - Levi Leipheimer - 13:58
10 - Carlos Sastre - 14:49

Rumsas would need the time trial of his life to bridge the gap and rise
up one podium step - but Beloki is not the world's strongest time
trialist.  Still, it would smack extra hard to get three thirds in the
Tour.  Botero can certainly close some of the gap, but he will be hard
pressed to move forward.  But, as we head into the 5th through 9th
places, there's only 1:50 between them.  The most likely upward
movements will be from Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, who needs only 4
seconds to push his teammate Azevedo out of the way, and Levi
Leipheimer, who posseses exceptional Time Trialing skills, and has been
continuing to find form as the race progresses.  But, will the climbing
better suit his ex-teammate Heras?  It shall be interesting.

Lance of course is very close-mouthed about his expectations, beyond the
regular position he has stated that the Yellow Jersey must show himself
to be the strongest man in the race.  He rode what I would consider to
be a "careful" time trial in stage 9 - not losing time to any known
competitors and saving efforts for the heinous mountain climbs which
would come fast and furious in the following days.  But, now, there's
nothing left except the parade into Paris, and maybe he'll remove the
safety stops on the engine for the days efforts.

With about 25 riders left to start, David Millar is putting the most
serious test to the posted best times.  He's covering the 33 km point at
45:37 - only 8 seconds off the lead pace set by Sergei Hontchar.
However, as riders come through, it is the time of Lazslo Bodrogi which
floats up to the surface - he covered the course in 1:04:56.

Fassa Bortolo's Ivan Basso started the day 15:04 down, cetainly eyeing
the top ten if he can outride Carlos Sastre.  He now climbs the
unsheltered climb of the first 10.5 km, greeted by strong crosswinds and
simply massive crowds on the climb.

Raimondas Rumsas is away from the start house, aiming to be the first
Lithuanian on the podium in Paris. God forbid if a Lampre rider ever
wears yellow - can you imagine the chromatic clash of
yellow/pink/purple?  We see Beloki roll away, smoothly getting up to
speed, eyes, mind and thoughts hidden behind his glasses.

We get a number of different views of the start area - First we see
Lance Armstrong signing in while the referees hold his bike.  Then there
is a shot from behind him, with a couple minutes to go.  That's really
an interesting visual moment.  Nothing in front but open road.  Nothing
on it.  All coming down to the efforts of the next hour or so. From a
side view we watch as Lance lounges easily on the starthouse, casually
lounging on the top tube of  the pinnacle of carbon framework design and
execution.  One of the few on the road today who are wearing an aero
helmet.  He's been warming up on the rollers for most of the morning,
working himself into a visible frenzy upon at least one glimpse.

Now Lance receives the count and rolls away from the line - potentially
aiming at his 15th Tour Stage victory.

Of course, if  Botero can pull it together for a victory today, he will
be the "winningest" Colombian ever - he goes through the first time
check with a strong 17:48.  It looks good, and he's right in there with
the good times which have been set.

But, Rumsas cracks off a scorching 17:11 at the first time check -
cutting over 30 seconds off of the next best time at that point.
Clearly the man has some speed left in his legs.

Cofidis' Andrei Kivilev comes through well down the bunch this year,
finishing at 1:10:52 for the 50 km's.

Joseba Beloki has given away 46 seconds to Rumsas at the 10.5 km point,
as he comes through at 17:56.  But, can Rumsas continue to take time
away from him?

The huge crowds are easily 5 or 6 deep up the entire climb - Armstrong
has set into his strong, high cadence and flies past Texas flags and a
"wave" that must continue for 200 yards - he climbs strongly and moves
through the first time check 17 seconds down on the best time set by
Rumsas - 17:28.  It's interesting to see that it takes these elite
riders that amount of time to cover 10 km - on the flat, they'll cover a
similar distance at least 5 or 6 minutes faster.

Up at the next checkpoint, Levi Leipheimer rolls through at 46:54 - 9th
best time so far.

As Lance heads downhill and his jersey begins to color-shift because of
the speed he attains, Paul mentions that he's chosen a 55T chainring.
Mmmmm-mmmmmm good.... He's not quite spinning it out yet.

Fighting for 8th place, Roberto Heras runs through the second check at a
39 second deficit to Leipheimer - 47:33.

Rumsas is punishing himself to keep the pace high.  His continued
efforts easily evident throughout his body and pedaling stroke.  He has
clear designs upon the next spot on the podium. But, he's made a
tremendous effort over the first 10 km, and will be paying for it each
and every pedal stroke from here out.

Armstrong just screams along the roadway, now on the more level points
of the course, turning over the pedals attached to a huge serving dish
of a chainring.  He's likely to nick a tooth on the road when he
corners.

Botero comes through the second time check with the 5th best time -
46:07.

Rumsas continues to burn up the roadway, looking as if he's facing the
tests of Perdition but keeping the pace high.  He zips through through
the second check with the blistering time of 44:54.94 - 43 seconds
faster than David Millar's time - which was the best on the roadway at
that time check.

Beloki flies through a serious descent, trying to gain every second to
hold onto his second.  He began the day with a 2:18 gap over Rumsas.  He
is losing time! Crosses the second check with a time of 46:11 - he has
conceded 1:17 to Rumsas on the roadway. The question is whether Rumsas
can continue to take time from him over the remaining 15 kms.

Up at the finish line in Macon, Levi Leipheimer comes through in a
provisional 9th place on the day, with a time of 1:07:00 - I think
that's the best time for any Nor-Cal boy so far...

Now Armstrong hits the second time check - At first it looks like he's
suffering, but then I realize that I'm paying attention to the seconds,
and he's the second rider to go under 45 _MINUTES_ at this time check!
He has gained back a total of 24 seconds from Rumsas' early lead of 17
seconds - he now has the best time on the roadway at 44:47 - 7 seconds
ahead of Rumsas!

USPS's Roberto Heras crosses the finish in 1:08:15 - he has conceeded
1:12 to Leipheimer - that loses him the GC position by 8 seconds to his
former teammate! Heras has done a fine effort to limit his losses, but
unless there's still a time bonus on the roadway tomorrow, he will drop
a step.

In the battle for the podium spots, Rumsas is suffering openly over
every undulation of the roadway - he's wobbling, the bike is rocking,
somehow someone filled his tires with water, there must be a brake block
rubbing a rim, clearly the lube has dried up and blown away from the
chain, crikey my back is sore and how can there still be so much
distance left to cover?  Spittle gets on the camera lens as the photo
moto follows him from behind.

We haven't heard much about him while he was on the roadway, but
Fracisco Mancebo of iBanesto has ridden steadily to finish in 1:07:27 -
and he will not give away his place in the standings.

Now Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano  crosses through with a decent time -
1:05:32, just slotting in in front of Sergei Hontchar's time - which was
a provisional second place on the stage.  But the efforts of Rumsas and
Armstrong are clearly going to upset the standings when they roll
through the finish line.

Botero is struggling again on the roadway, as he works his way up hill.
He's a powerful rider, and as I said, one to be reckoned with at all
times.  But, he doesn't seem to ultimately have the speed today.

Rumsas is finding all kinds of pain, paying for his early start efforts
- you almost expect to see him bleeding from his ears.

Botero rolls through just over 1:06 - 1:06:01 to be exact - Botero will
defiinitely slot into fourth for the Tour this year.

Armstrong has gained more time at an
unofficial-super-secret-Phil-and-Paul time check at 45 km. I'm paying
attention to something else and don't remember the number, but retain
the statement that it's better.

Rumsas flies towards the finish, some of his organs lying on the roadway
behind - finishing in 1:04:43!  That pops him up on the top of the
leader board.

Armstorng has 4 km to go, while ahead of him Joseba Beloki must hold
1:07:01 to maintain second place - Beloki reaches for everything he has
left while his coach begins speaking in tongues over a loudspeaker
nearly in danger of melting from the volume - a quick cut to Armstrong
shows him moving forward like a machine! The BORG are here - and they
wear yellow!

Beloki is under the 1 km to go mark, driving through the tightest apex
of the broad turn that will lead him toward the finish.  Hammering,
Hammering, Hammering!  Venga! Venga! Venga!  He finishes at 1:06:01!
Beloki lost only one more second through the last 15 km of the course
and will sew up a second place finish. Those few seconds here and there
through the mountains have added up to deliver the Spaniard

But there is utterly no time to even consider Beloki's effort, merely
enough to scrape him off the the side and out of the way.  HERE COMES
LANCE! Armstrong  is clearly going to be under - UNDER - 1:04!   And
with an average time in the range of 47 kph, he leads the referee cars
and motos across the line at 1:03:50!  His 15th career victory!  His 8th
time trial victory in the tour!  His fourth stage win this year! - Where
the heck is my dictionary of superlatives?
Heck, how about another number? - 53 seconds faster than Rumsas!

Confirming once again, he is the champion of the tour.

Stage 19 - Individiual Time Trial - Regnie-Durette to Macon
1 - Lance Armstrong - 1:03:50
2 - Raimondas Rumsas - Lampre @ :53
3 - Lazslo Bodrogi -  @ 1:06
4 - David Miller - Cofidis @ 1:14
5 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - ONCE @ 1:42
6 - Sergei Hontchar - Fassa Bortolo @ 1:43
7 - Belohvoscks -  @ 2:09
8 - Santiago Botero - Kelme @ 2:11
9 - Joseba Beloki - ONCE @ 2:11
10 - Victor Hugo Pena - USPS @ 2:29

I don't know where Pena came from, they had not been tracking him on the
course at all - I would imagine that he was the rabbit for Armstrong -
much like Tyler Hamilton used to go out with intention to blow on the
course so they could get split times to aim at.

GC -
1 - Lance Armstrong - 78 hrs 34:25
2 - Joseba Beloki - 7:17
3 - Raimondas Rumsas - 8:17
4 - Santiago Botero - 13:10
5 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - 13:54
6 - Jose Azevedo - 15:44
7 - Francisco Mancebo - 16:05
8 - Levi Leipheimer - 17:11
9 - Roberto Heras - 17:18
10 - Carlos Sastre - 19:05
11 - Ivan Basso - 19:18  (Best Young Rider)
12 - Michael Boogerd - 20:33
13 - Davide Moncoutier - 21:08 (Best Placed French Rider)
14 - Massimo Lelli - 27:51
15 - Tyler Hamilton - 28:36 (Best ex-USPS Rider who recently broke his
shoulder in a major tour)
16 - Richard Virenque - 28:42
17 - Stephan Goubert - 29:51
18 - Unai Osa - 30:17 (Rider who's name most sounds like a soft drink)
19 - Nico Vogondy - 32:44

Notes and other thoughts -
Winner of Stage 1 and wearer of the Yellow Jersey, Lampre's Rubens
Bertogliati may have been eliminated on time today - he finished over 13
minutes behind Lance, riding extremely slowly as he suffered over the
roadway.  We'll have to get the final decision from the referees once we
see the time postings.

Still up for grabs is the Green Sprinters Jersey - being worn into Paris
by Lotto's Robbie McEwen - as there is only a point between him and Erik
Zabel.  There will be two sprint points on the roadway, one midway and
one as they come onto the Champs Elysees, and of course points for the
finishing positions.  Essentially, whoever crosses the line first will
wear green.  If Zabel can cannnily pull it out, it will be his 7th,  but
McEwen's speed coming off of the Giro this year is evident.

Last year, McEwen actaully fell off his bike while messing around with
the bunch as they rolled into Paris.  This year, there is no question
that he will be a bit more serious.
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Stage 20 - Melun to Paris - Onto the Champs Elysees and Final Ceremonies

Late coverage on the West Coast Tomorrow, as for some contractual
reason, they do not give a live feed.  So, we'll see the stage at 6 pm.