[Le Tour 2003]Stage 7 - Hitting the Bigger Hills

[Tour Reporter]

Stage 7 - Lyon - Morzine - 230 km

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Rider updates:
I neglected to mention that ONCE's sprinter Angel Vicioso did not start
yesterday's stage, suffering a broken bone in his elbow as a result of
his crash.
During the race, Alessio's Fabio Baldato abandoned at the feed zone. He
had been involved in a few crashes so far.

Multiple stage winner Alessandro Petacchi seemed more surprised than
anyone that he won yesterday - he had gone so far as to tell his team
that he would not contest the sprint - complaining of knackered legs
after the climbs. Taking a page out of Mario Cipolini's handbook, he's
claiming to not be sure whether he'll take on the Alps, or elect to head
homeward.  He also went on to say that he had done virtually not
training since the Giro.  Given the speeds he has been attaining, I have
a little trouble taking that comment at face value.

---------------
Stage Features:
There are two sprint points on today's stage, one at the base of the
Category 2 Mont des Princes climb and the other at the base of the
thumper - the Category 1 Col de la Ramaz.

Col de la Ramaz - 1619 meters (5311 feet) - 14 kms of climbing at almost
7 percent average.  This is an "unknown" climb, having not featured in
any stage of the Tour. Lance has opening said that some people will find
it "surprising".

The temperature continues to soar today in the valleys - mid 80's with 
about 38% humidity.
-----------------

We begin the racing today with a recap of wreckage so far:
Kelme has started the day with fairly bad luck, with Antonio Talleur of 
touching someone's wheel the wrong way and tumbling down onto the hot 
and dusty roadside - although he has regained a new bike, he looks a bit 
stunned - not a good way to start a hot, hard and long stage.

Teammate Jesus Manzano passed out due to heat stroke, and at first the 
doctors weren't sure if he was unconcious due to injuries suffered in 
the resulting crash.  He was taken to the hospital and has withdrawn.

Suprisingly, Alessandro Petacchi picked a slightly shady spot on the 
first incline packs it in on the Cole de Porte. That should shift the 
green Points jersey over to the shoulders of Baden Cooke of FDJuex.com

Other big men have turned it in as well, Estonian sprinter Jan Kirsipuu 
of Ag2R & Olaf Pollack of Gerolsteiner bring the rider count down to 190 
of the starting 198.

At the first major climb of the day, a breakaway had managed to get 
clear - containing some resonably recognizable names -
Richard Virenque - QuickStep
Paolo Bettini - QuickStep
Rolf Aldag - Telekom
Benoit Poilvet - Credit Agricole
and at 115 km - their gap is up to 7:09

Cote du mont Des Princes - Virenque takes the KoM points, with teammate 
Bettini following in second.  Bettini had been in the break with Aldag 
and Poilvet when Virenque escaped the peleton and bridged.  Bettini held 
back until his teammate could join up. A Cofidis rider, Mederic Clain, 
had been  with them, but fell off the pace and is slowly drifting back 
towards the bunch.

At the head of events behind these four and one, we find the US Postal 
Service - with Floyd Landis being the only member who has not unzipped 
his jersey in the frantic heat of the day.

On the flats now, the peleton continues to string out as the continue to 
drive the pace.  But, they aren't even limiting their losses, and the 
breakaway edges out to 8:10 with 98.9 km to go.

How often do you see the wearer of the Yellow Jersey drifting back to 
the team cars, collecting bottles. They've caught a little guff in the 
French press for this, but as usual, don't seem to really appreciate the 
complete situation.  Even Victor Hugo Pena knew the jersey was on loan, 
and his job remains the same.

Luis Perez of Cofidis closes up his shop and peels away his numbers - 
succumbing to the heat - this leaves 15 of the 22 teams remain intact.

Up front the gang of four work their way up a very bare climb - the heat 
of the open roads never lessening.  Virenque punches out a strong 
clilmbing tempo getting help only from Bettini.  Nowhere to hide from 
the sun on this open stretch - the UCI may require them to wear helmets, 
but the riders have unbuckled the straps as they climb.

Virenque leads over the Cote de Cruseilles to strengthen his hold on the 
KoM jersey - Bettini again takes the second points.

At the side of the roadway, some twisted french farmer has dressed his 
cows in the jerseys of the leaders, and the yellow jersey cow seeems to 
have a slight bit of unease at the proximity of the KoM spotted jersey 
cow.  The green jersey cow appears content.

The peleton seems to have pulled back a few seconds as they work their 
way up the climb.  They spread out a bit as the roads widen, with a 
couple of the Alessio riders working up next to the Postal riders. 
Euskatel-Euskadi and Kelme begin to make themselves evident as well.

The gap hovers at 7:55 with about 80 km to go - 50 km until the day's 
big climb on Col de Ramaz.

My question this morning is, "why do they always show folks shifting 
gears on auto commercials, when they are driving automatics?"

7:40 a couple of km later, led by the fully-zipped-up Landis and 
Vlatchislav Ekimov, who mimics his clothing style.

Pena and Rubiera from USPS roam at the end of the bunch, each laden with 
about 8 or 9 bottles.  With the temps hitting the 90's today, you wonder 
how the riders can drink enough to stay ahead.

===========================
A Trivia Question:
What five riders have won both the overall title and the king of the 
mountains in the same year?
===========================

Michael Rich of Gerolsteiner has joined those who have abandoned today.

Saeco is "protesting" today's stage by wearing black and white jerseys 
rather than the regular red kits, more than likely incurring a fine from 
the race organizers - What are they protesting? Well, in a decided 
marketing coup, they are venting their displeasure that their prototype 
Cannondales are under the UCI mandated lower weight limit.  The carbon 
bike with aluminum lugs seems to need cables to hold it to the ground - 
it is said that their jerseys loudly proclaim "Legalize my Cannondale", 
but so far, the French television cameras will not dignify it by showing 
them.

Well, it seems that train engineers has not taken this month off.  The 
peleton had to spend about a minute behind a closed level crossing to 
watch the train roll past.  This pushes the gap out another minute to 
about 8:51.  Virenque may benefit from that extra gift to his time gap. 
  It may be just what he needs to hold out to the finish.

8:18 with 37.5 km to go - the lead gang of four has just begun to hit 
the lower slopes of the climb. They still need to hit the final sprint 
point of the day before the road pitches up in earnest.  Paolo Bettini 
snags the 6 second time bonus, which could put him into the yellow 
jersey if they can stay away from the bunch and finish together.  They 
begin the climb in earnest, now out of the saddle and into the small 
chainring.  Virenque notches back onto his saddle and trades pacemaking 
with Bettini.

Eight or so minutes behind, the peleton seems to mass a little, probably 
distributing waterbottles and taking a last look at rivals and teammates 
before the climb begins in earnest.

Virenque and Bettini have accelerated away from their breakaway 
compatriots, the break has come down to 7:10 as the peleton runs under 
the sprint banner.

Victor Hugo Pena hammers on the front of the peleton, wearing the yellow 
jersey, already chopping off a quarter of the peleton, who assemble in 
the "autobus" or "grupetto" to work together to limit their time losses.

Up front, Aldag rolls back up to the lead pair as he recovers from the 
initial attack of Bettini and Virenque.  Virenque does a spit-take as 
the Telekom rider reattaches.  A few minutes later, Bettini suddenly 
detaches from the Virenque and Aldag - race radio says he's complaining 
of hunger knock - whatever the cause, he looks to be pedaling 
downhill...  Aldag makes a hard move to move away from Virenque!  He 
gains a solid 20 meter lead while Virenque digs very deep to reattach. 
He does so and slots back into the lead of the stage.

Pena has finished his pacemaking and is now just managing to stick onto 
a group which has fallen back a bit. He will be hard pressed to hang 
onto the yellow jersey at the end of this day.

Up front George Hincapie has taken over the pacemaking, with at least 3 
other teammates ferrying Lance Armstrong up this part of the clmb. 
Ullrich sits about 5 or 6 riders behind him, matching the strong tempo.

5:30 gap as the Devil runs alongside Virenque and Aldag - hooting and 
gesticulating towards fellow countryman Aldag.  This is not to say all 
Germans are devils, rather that the Devil is a German. His trident has a 
gold "100" on the top. Art.

Ullrich has slotted up into Armstrong's hip pocket, right next to 
Roberto Heras.  Both men ride with impassive expression.

Telekom's Alexandre Vinokourov hurls himself up and away, jumping out to 
a quick gap.

Up front, Aldag has hit the wall.  Virenque senses this and rips away 
again.  He has just under 5 km to the summit as Aldag wobbles a bit.

Gilberto Simoni appears on camera for the first time today as he slips 
backwards from the Armstrong group, or possibly even a group behind 
that.  He has what looks like a crusty white caterpiller of sweat and 
icky stuff on his lower lip and does not look well at all.

Another stated challenger, Telekom's Sanatiago Botero labors badly as 
the hill begins to bite and riders move past him.

Vinokourov now has only about 30 meters of lead, and has started 
pedaling squares.

Up at the front, Virenque zips up his jersey as the climb flattens 
slightly and the temperatures drop in the altitude of 4-5,000 feet.

Bettini has drifted back to the leading chase group of 40 or so riders, 
which includes a strong looking Jan Ullrich and the remarkable Tyler 
Hamilton. Also in the bunch: David Millar of Cofidis, Iban Mayo of 
Euskatel-Euskadi, Joseba Beloki of ONCE and Stefano Garzelli sits 
quietly in the mix as well.  Armstrong throws a little twitch as he sits 
in behind three teammates, but seems content to sit in and make the 
others atack him.  Bettini drifts out the back, looking for more food 
and some respite from his obvious pain.

As Virenque rolls toward the top of the climb, still passing thousands 
of spectators - all of whom seem to have found KoM polka-dot climbing 
jersey styled T-shirts.  He hits the crest of the climb with the roar of 
all France in his ears and calls upon all of his descending skills to 
hold onto his roughly 4 minute lead in anticipation of the short climb 
which remains..

Aldag lost about a minute and a half on the climb, cresting alone in 
second place.

3:20 to the third rider - Credit Agricole's Poilvet, who now feels the 
breath of the peleton behind him.

3:50 to the Armstrong group, still led by three USPS teammates with 
Armstrong sitting in behind.

Hurtling down the descent, Virenque uses every inch of the roadway as he 
screams through a series of 180 degree switchbacks.   He drops quickly, 
and seems to have bottomed out on the descent, begining the shorter Cat3 
climb of Cole des Gets.  At this point, he's staying on the big ring and 
continuing to knock out a good cadence.

The 33 rider strong Armstrong group has eased up a bit, and the gap 
increases to 4:30. Garzelli still sits quietly in the bunch, along with 
most of the serious competitors.  The only rider we can't seem to find 
right now is Simoni.

Shell-shocked riders are continuing to crest the climb of the Col de 
Ramaz, focused only upon finishing within the time limit, which should 
be about 16% of the finishing time of the winner.

Back up front, the French crowds urge him onward to the crest of the 
final climb.  They sense victory for this most favored of homeboy 
riders, and if the gap doesn't get closed down, he will take over the 
yellow jersey.  It won't come entirely without pain, of course, as he 
wrinkles his face and hammers out the biggest gear he can find.

Behind, some animation occurs at the crest of the Cotes des Gets, with 
iBanesto.com's Francisco Mancebo trying to get a gap or at least a few 
seconds time bonus.  Armstrong immediately latches onto his rear wheel 
and follows without perceptible effort.

Virenque has less than 2 and a half km to the finish, and just squeezes 
everything out of his legs to get up the final climb to the finish.  But 
no one will catch him today, as he crosses the finish sitting upright 
and giving his signature one-arm-up salute.

Sylva Chavanel from Boulangerie skips away trying to grasp some glory - 
it seems as though the peleton has caught Poilvet, so he is streaking 
away for a potential third on the stage.

Rolf Aldag finishes 2:33 behind, enjoying the results of his massive effort.

Chavanel cruises around the final cuve to finish 3:45 behind the leader.

Michael Rodgers comes out of nowhere to nip fourth with a bit of a gap 
over the bunch.  This young rider has had an incredible day to stick 
with this group of powerful riders. He's certainly benefitted from his 
anonymity in the group.  Three seconds behind, Garzelli leads the charge 
for the group which contains all the serious contenders and Armstrong - 
the only missing person still seems to be Simoni.  As they post the 
provisional results, he doesn't seem to have finished closer than 7:30 
or so behind Virenque, which adds at least another 3 and a half minutes 
to his deficent behind Armstrong.

All told, this seems to have played well to the USPS - no rider of 
overall importance seems to have gotten away, setting up what will be a 
mano-a-mano showdown tomorrow on L'Alp d'Huez.  Which of course, will 
not be shown live - since it's Sunday or some such blather...

Stage 7 Results -
1 - Richard Virenque - QuickStep - 6:06:03
2 - Rolf Aldag - Telekom - @ 2:29
3 - Sylvan Chavanel - Brioches la Boulangerie - @ 3:45
4 - Michael Rogers - QuickStep - @ 4:03
5 - Stefano Garzelli - Vini Caldirola @ 4:06
6 - Christophe Moreau - Credit Agricole - s.t.
7 - Laurent Dufaux - Alessio - s.t.
8 - David Millar - Cofidis - s.t.
9 - Georg Totschnig - Gerolsteiner - s.t.
10 - Alexandre Vinokourov - Telekom - s.t.

General Classification -
Malliot Juane - Richard Virenque - 29:10:39
2 - Lance Armstrong - USPS - @ 2:37
3 - Rolf Aldag - @ 2:48
4 - Jose Luis Rubiera - USPS - @ 2:59
5 - Roberto Heras - USPS - @ 3:03
6 - Joseba Beloki - ONCE - @ 3:09
7 - Jorg Jaksche - ONCE - @ 3:14
8 - Manuel Beltran - USPS - @ 3:15
9 - Jan Ullrich - Bianchi - @ 3:15
10 - Jose Azevedo - ONCE - @ 3:37


Jersey Results -
KoM (Polka Dot) - Richard Virenque
Points (Green) - Baden Cooke (not yet official)
Young Rider (White) - Michael Rogers (not yet official)


Tomorrow's Stage -
Sallanches - L'Alpe d'Huez - 219 km

Starting right off with the Cote du Megeve (Cat3 - 9.9 km @ 5.1%), 
hitting the Col du Telegraph (Cat2 - 12.1 km @6.8%)at 125 km, enjoying 
viturally no descent before attacking the beastly Col du Galibier (HC - 
  18.5% @ 6.7%) and finally reaching L'Alpe d'Huez (HC - 14.1 km @ 8%).

Everyone expects the obvious tomorrow.

Lance. Attacking.  Be there.


===========================
Trivia Answer:

Eddy Merckx (three times)1969, 1971, 1972
Fredrico Bahamontes - 1959
Fausto Coppi - 1949, 1952
Gino Bartali - 1938, 1948
Sylvere Maes - 1939
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