[Le Tour 2003]Stage 12 - Individual Time Trial

[Tour Reporter]

Stage 12 - Gaillac - Cap'Decouverte - 47 km Individual Time Trial

Four riders from yesterday will not take to the start house, as in 
addition to the abandonment of Credit Agricole's Jens Voigt, teammate 
Stephane Auge did not make the time cutoff.  Bianchi also lost a man in 
the form of Tobias Steinhauser, while FDJeux.com's Matthew Wilson also 
was unable to make the time cut.

What a day they will miss, 97 degrees w/ 30% humidity, on an almost 
entirely exposed course that twists and turns, undulates and finally 
thwacks the riders with a climb with 8 km to go.

Out on the roadway, riders have been rolling away at two minute 
intervals, trying to pace their efforts through the sweltering weather.

Gerrit Glomser from Saeco seems to think it's a team time trial as he 
continues following other riders.  He spent a considerable amount of 
time behind Santiago as he went past, and tried to cling to Andrea Noe 
of Alessio as he went past.  That may get him the judges' "special 
prize" which unfortunately means a negative time bonus for drafting.

The rules are quite straight forward in this respect - you may not ride 
behind the person in front of you, and unless you passing, may not ride 
within 25 feet of the rider ahead.

Telekom's Santiago Botero - the current world time trial champion - 
rumbles throuh the heat, moving strongly but not quite catching current 
leader Uwe Peschel of Gerolsteiner - who has been leading for a 
considerable time with a time of 1:01:58.

David Millar of Cofidis, who has fitted a front derailleur to his 
bicycle for today's stage, posts the best time so far at the 13 km mark 
- 7 seconds ahead of Peschel's time.

===========================
Today's Trivia Question
Of the riders who have won five Tours de France, who has the best record?
===========================

Only the French press would accuse Tyler Hamilton of not having a broken 
collarbone - it seems they think he's just doing too well.  Tyler has 
offered to help them learn to read XRays, but will let his legs do the 
talking today as he tries to regain some of the momentum lost in the 
first 11 stages.

Iban Mayo of Euskatel-Euskadi moves out on the roadway - he has won a 
short time trial this season, beating Tyler by 11 seconds, but it was in 
the rain and had a treacherous descent on which he made all of his time 
as Hamilton wisely shut it down to make sure he did not suffer an 
injury.  In the Dauphine Libere, Mayo finished over a minute and a half 
behind Lance Armstrong in a 30 km time trial.

Vinokourov looks a little restrained as he rolls down the start ramp.  A 
strong rider, he has been steadily improving his time trialing - one of 
the benefits of having Santiago Botero on the same team.

The young and strong Ivan Basso from Fassa Bortolo sits a bit high on 
the bike, but then again, so did Indurain.  Although he has virtually no 
teammates left in the race, he continues to push on.

Lance looks as drawn and foucsed as he's ever looked on a start line. 
He's out the chute and on the course, having lost one long TT in the 
past five years.

Miller drops off his pace a bit, losing the 7 seconds he had at the 
first time check, running through at 33 km just under a second behind.

Riders are definitely falling off their pace in the final 10 km, as they 
negotiate the final climb which juts up before the finish.  Word is that 
Laurent Jalabert was consulted for the development of this time trial 
course.  It definitely seems to test the "all-around" qualities of each 
rider.

Ullrich moves through the first time check a good 15 seconds ahead of 
Millar's best time. At that speed, he probably is showing up on weather 
radar.

Ullrich looks low and strong, just pummeling the pedals in a huge gear - 
he must have a 55T chainring.  He rips along under cloudless skies, not 
seeming to be affected by the heat.  Ullrich has already caught Basso 
and blows past him on a straight stretch of road like he's doing a 
trackstand.

Armstrong goes through the first check - he is on roughly the same time 
as Ullrich, but a few tenths of a second slot him into 2nd place at that 
point.

Vinokourov has managed a decent time at the first check, only 19 seconds 
behind Ullrich/Armstrong.

Ullrich now picks up his four minute man and moves past him in a sweaty 
celeste blur - it's none other than USPS's Roberto Heras, not known as 
the world's best time trialist.

Zubeldia shows that his prologue effort was not a fluke, sliding into 
the new best time at the 2nd check - 42:20.

However, Ullrich's effort eclipses this time, comeing through at 40:28!

Vinokourov nabs Iban Mayo just before the 2nd time check, clearly 
raising his game as he fights to retain his podium position - he passes 
through with a very good time of 41:30.

The road will pitch up, as I've said, and it becomes apparant that 
Armstrong may need that edge, as he comes through the 33 km check 40 
seconds behind Ullrich's time.

Zubeldia finally unseats Pechov, notching into the first place at 
1:01:12.31.

Menchov continues holding his white jersey lead with a 1:03:47 finish.

Ullrich suddenly appears near the finish! He has been screaming along, 
unleashing his massive power with an authoritative effort - he will 
definitely finish under an hour!  He emphatically crosses the line with 
an unbeleivable time of 58:32.92!  Gott im Himmel!  The big German is 
back...

As the top riders hit the final climb, word is coming from an unofficial 
time check that Ullrich has continued to extend his margin in front of 
Armstrong to over a minute at around 41.5 km.

Vinokourov heads uphill with his slightly labored climbing style.  Lance 
has raised himself out of the saddle and continues to increase his 
cadence.  Iban Mayo wobbles noticeably on the roadway and looks to be 
slowing.

Hamilton finishes with an excellent time, finishing in 1:01:15, just off 
the time of Haimar Zubeldia.

Vinokourov has definitely ridden the Time Trial of his career, limiting 
his losses with a time of 1:00:39.

Mayo finishes almost a full three minutes behind - sprinting gamely but 
conceding much too much time. However, don't count that man out - they 
head into the Basque region of the Pyrenees where thousands of 
flag-waving and screaming fans will urge him onward.

Finally Armstrong comes into view, but he's already slipped past 
Ullrich's finishing time and has a few turns left to negotiate.  He 
rolls strongly through the final meters, finishing with the second best 
time of the day - still nearly a minute and half behind Ullrich at 
1:00:08. As always, he has an impassive look on his face - neither 
looking destroyed and upset or jubilent at having limited Ullrich's gains.

So, what does all of this mean? The cream is certainly rising to the 
top, as Vinokourov continues to have the best season of his career, 
while an on-form Ullrich is absolutely the dangerous competitor which 
Armstrong has always said he would be.  Although Mayo has fallen back, 
it would be stupid to count him out as the Tour heads onto his home turf 
for the next four days.

With all the excitement, it's easy to forget that Armstrong does still 
wear the yellow jersey.  Further, as I said before, the specificity of 
his training has to take into account both the race course and the 
competition - he could not afford only to stress climbing or Ullrich 
would be in the lead now, and he could not just emphasize flatland power 
or the climbers would have had more of a gap.  His goal has always been 
to win a three week bike race.  As the Pyrenees loom, we shall see how 
that plays out.

Stage Results - Stage 12 Individual Time Trial
1 - Jan Ullrich - Bianchi - 58:32
2 - Lance Armstrong - USPS - @ 1:36
3 - Alexandre Vinokourov - Team Telekom - @ 2:06
4 - Haimar Zubeldia - Euskatel-Euskadi - @ 2:40
5 - Tyler Hamilton - CSC - @ 2:43
6 - Uwe Peschel - - @ 3:25
7 - David Millar - Cofidis - @ 3:55
8 - I Chaurreu - - @ 4:01
9 - David Plaza - Kelme? - @ 4:37
10 - Santiago Botero - Telekom - @ 5:00


Overall Standings - Stage 12
MJ - Lance Armstrong - 50:16:45
2 - Jan Ullrich - @ :34
3 - Alexandre Vinokourov - @ :51
4 - Tyler Hamilton - @ 2:59
5 - Haimar Zubeldia - @ 4:29
6 - Iban Mayo - Euskatel-Euskadi - @ 4:29
7 - Francisco Mancebo - iBanesto.com - @ 5:01
8 - Ivan Bass - Fassa Bortolo - @ 6:49
9 - Denis Menchov - iBanesto.com - @ 7:24
10 - Christophe Moreau - Credit Agricole - @ 7:55

Stage 13 - Tomorrow
Toulouse - Ax 3 Domaines  197 km
Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat until about 120 km.
Then it's time to put on your climbing shoes once more, as the road 
rockets upward - first onto the 2001 meter Port de Pailheres (Category 
1, averaging 7.8% with extended bits at 10%)before dropping to nearly 
the start elevation and attacking the Ax-3 Domaines climb - another 
Category 1 climb with 9.11 km of ascending.  For you mountain trivia 
buffs out there, the Port de Pailheres is actually longer and steeper 
than the Hors Categorie Col du Tourmalet, but for some reason the race 
organizers have kept a Cat1 label on it.

Of course, all of this comes the day before a Pryrenes stage with 6 
peaks on Sunday, followed by two crunchers on Monday and Wednesday.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Today's Trivia Answer:
Eddy Merckx - won 5 Tours in 7 starts
Hinault and Anquetil won 5 out of 8
Indurain won 5 in a row, but rode the Tour 12 times.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++



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