[Le Tour 2003]Stage 15 - Tangling on the Mountain

[Tour Reporter]

Stage 15 - Bagneres de Bigorre - Luz Ardiden - 159 km

Running out of roadway and stages, three men have a date with the 
mountains today.  Armstrong cannot afford to wait any longer, and both 
Ullrich and Vinokourov know that.  What the day's climbs lack in number, 
they make up for in history and pain. There will be nowhere to hide when 
the roads point upward.

1500 meter Col d'Aspin - 12.3 km at 6.4% - Category 1

2112 meter Col du Tourmalet -  17.1 @ 7.4% - HC

1715 meter Luz Ardiden - 13.4 km of climbing at 7.8% - HC

Santiago Botero of Telekom pushed himself out with Sylvain Chavanel from 
Brioches la Boulangere for the cat 4 climbs, with Chavanel nabbing all 
of the KoM points in the early part of the course.  Botero has forced 
himself out clearly to assist Vinokourov in the latter part of the race, 
although he hasn't shown the most aptitude as the roadways pointed upwards.

Retirements of the day (so far...):
Marco Milesi - Vini Caldirola
Freddy Rodriguez - Vini Caldirola
Leonardo Bertagnolli - Team Saeco

Inigo Chaurreau of Ag2R is about 3:10 behind the leading pair, trying in 
vain to close the distance and followed by the peleton.

The entire USPS rolls along at 6:10 behind, ferrying Lance and the 
following riders. Team Telekom has moved most of their team to the front 
as well, with even Erik Zabel poised to take a pull as he rides his 10th 
Tour de France.

FDJeux.com's Baden Cooke has drifted back in full green jersey and kit, 
summoning his team car and not looking like he's enjoying himself. 
Gravity is a constant foe of those who carry the muscles of the sprinters.

Temps have slid down to the mid-70's, with little humidity. There seems 
to be no direct sun as the hides beind a bit of a misty haze.

The gaps sit at 4:24 to the trailing Chaurreau and 7:24 to the USPS led 
team as the peleton hits the Col d'Aspin.  The upward pitch seems to 
awaken the sun, which peeks out now that the riders climb.  No one is 
climbing in anger yet, and as Paul points out, this was a Category 2 
climb in years past. Everyone seems content to wait for the two hors 
categorie climbs which complete the stage.

Ullrich is dinking around at the side of the road for what seems to be a 
horrificly long time - pointing and pulling at his machine with his team 
car parked right next to him.  He calmly regains his bike and begins 
moving up with a couple teammates.

Axel Merckx from Lotto begins to drift off the back, having been 
suffering for most of the day already.

On the forward end of events, Botero begins to labor a bit more 
noticeably as Chavanel knocks out a comfortable pace on the climb. They 
  still hold a 9:10 gap over the bunch, which continues tapping out a 
steady pace on the climb.

More Lotto riders begin to lose touch with the pack.  Hans de Clerq, 
Nick Gates and Leon Van Bon move backwards, perhaps losing a bit of 
mental momentum with the retirement of Rik Verbrugghe in yesterday's stage.

Another rider who is dawdling at the back is yesterday's stage winner, 
Gilberto Simoni.  He doesn't seem to be in trouble, but seems content to 
  hover near the caboose.

Chavanel rolls over the summit for a perfect record of KoM and Sprint 
point victories on the day's stage.  Botero does seem a strange 
companion on the day as an assistant to Vinokourov, perhaps now he 
begins having visions of a stage win, despite the strategic needs of his 
team.

Euskatel-Euskadi takes up the pacemaking, with a pair of Bianchi riders 
immediately behind.

Charreau has lost time to the lead pair, crossing the summit mark at 5:46.

I'm corrected in my impression that Botero can't climb - he's actually 
said to have won the polka-dot climber's jersey in the past, though I 
cannot recall the year.  He has definitely won both a climbing stage and 
an individual time trial.  The general opinion this season however is 
that he didn't put his training emphasis right.

The bunch rolls over the top at 9:14, led by the swift move of Richard 
Virenque who nabs the fourth place climbing points.  He had amassed 300 
points so far, with two big escapes on climbing stages, reminiscent of 
Laurent Jalabert's efforts in recent Tours.

Everyone rolls down through the transition of the valley into the 
village of Saint Marie de Campan, where the riders find the soigneurs 
bearing full feedbags and musettes.

Chavanel has scooted away up the roadway, easily dropping Botero and 
leaving him quickly a growing 20 seconds behind as he hits the lower 
portions of the Col du Tourmalet.

Euskatel-Eukadi has placed a couple of riders on the tip of the bunch, 
with a few more in the front end interspersed with USPS riders. A slight 
  thinning of the pack members begins as the Basque team continues to 
increase their effort on the lower portions of the climb.

Cofidis David Millar drifts away with a couple teammates - said to be 
suffering from bronchitis.

Botero taps away with his choppy climbing style, stuck in no man's land, 
now over a minute behind Chavanel.

A surprising rider to see drifting back is USPS's Roberto Heras, who is 
said also to have a respiratory ailment. He sits in a group which 
includes big man Pavel Padrnos. A continual drift of riders seeps away 
from the bunch, including the major mullet of the peleton, Laurent 
Brochard. Floyd Landis and Vlatchislav Ekimov set an easier pace now, 
their jobs possibly done for the day.

The first accellerations begin with CSC's  - with Moreau and Mancebo 
beoing joined by Iban Mayo.  Serious gaps begin to split the peleton as 
they move themselves back up front.

Moreau has edged up the roadway alone, enjoying superior form to his 
previous efforts.

Ullrich suddenly surges has moved strongly up to and past Moreau. 
Armstrong has matched his accelleration, but begins to fall awy slightly 
as Ullrich pushes the pace.

Vinokourov does not move out of the peleton, as everyone raises their 
pace but cannot nail back the German, who has unleased the power of huge 
flywheel. Punishing the pedals, Ullrich has moved to a gap of 40 or 50 
meters, while Armstrong ticks out his high cadence while th gap remains.

Armstrong eyes steadily up the roadway, ticks out of the saddle and 
works to close down the gap.

Ullrich has pulled up to Charreau and sets him in his slipstream without 
notice.

Vinokourov cannot close down the gap to Armstrong, riding in a troika 
with Zubeldia an Basso.

Now Armstrong accellerates up to a slightly slowing Ullrich, who surges 
again to keep his gap.

Ullrich is one hell of a long way to the finish - a good 25 miles, which 
of course finishes with a clibming bit.

A solo EE rider seems to be hovering in the back.

They have managed to push Vino ot the back.

Lance looks calm, finding himsel reattached to Ullrich's high profile 
carbon wheelset.


Mayo has joined the pair, surges a bit, but Ullrich will not be left 
behind.  He takes a look or two to see what is going on.

Ullrich has settled in behind Armstrong, who has let Mayo lead them 
through the riotous Basque crowds.

Rubiera and Beltran move strongly in a group that trails immediately 
behind the Vinokourov group.

Zubeldia has left behind Vinokourov behind and has moved up to the 
Armstrong group.

Vinokourov holds ont the tail of a small group, now said to be 15 or so 
seconds behind looking like he's in a bit of trouble.  He's losing 
contact with the trailign group, not panicking but sclearly suffering 
and losing ground.

Ullrich takes over the pacemaking again, they have moved above the 
clouds now.  They still trail Chavanel by five and half minutes.

Vinokourov weaves all over his machine as he slowly reduces the gap to 
the trailing group.

Chavanel heads over the epic arc of the Tourmalet summit.

Ullrich and Armstrong trade pacemaking, shooting an odd, nasty look back 
at the Basque pair, who so far have not bothered to take a turn at the 
front.  They cross the summit 4:04 behind.

Hamilton Basso and Moreau hit the summit at 4:35.

Botero has actually stopped his efforts to await his teammate

Totschnig Rubiera and Beltran group with others go through at 5:00. 
Finally Vino nabs himelf soem stacks and a teammate just off the back of 
the group - that's 1:18 behind the Armstrong group.

Virenque leads a group over at 6:46.

Looks like Mayo has not been able to attend the descending master class 
being given by Armstrong, as he drifts away on the steep and exposed 
switchbacks.  Ullrich's choice once more of deep-dish carbon rims will 
be tested as they heat up and get a little ornery with the braking to come.

All seem to make it down safely despite my negative statements, and by 
the flats, Hamilton, Moreau and Basso have joined up with Ullrich, 
Armstrong, Mayo and Zubeldia to create a supergroup for this final 
decisive climb up to Luz Ardiden.

The five eye one another as they get ready to hit the final climb.

Back down the roadway an unstated time, Telekom's Giuseppe Guerini 
notches over a painful cadence and tries to pace Vinokourov back up.  He 
is immediatley followed by Rubiera and Beltran, quietly allowing the 
Tlekom effort to continue unabated.

Basso has moved hard, and Mayo has followed, but it's quickly neutralized

Helmets are flying as they hit the uphill that remains.
Vinikourov has reattached finally, putting David Plaza back in the mix 
in the favor of Bianchi, but two riders for Lance.

Plaza sets a hard climbing pace, out of the saddle directly in front of 
Ellrich, who is followed by Armstrong - just in case you forgot, Sylvain 
Chavanel is still out the front by


Mayo moves hard, but Armstrong is on him and attacks hard! This is the 
MOVE!  He slides easily in front of Mayo, and Ullrich cannot immediatly 
respond. Ullrich tries to roll back up and close the gap, as Armstrong 
begins to take flight.  Mayo moves back up and follows him as they begin 
to move well...

Armstrong is down!!! Armstrong has gone down!! It looked like his front 
wheel just slipped out on something, and he's gone down hard.  Mayo runs 
into his back tire and joins him on the roadway.  A hard-charging 
Ullrich somehow avoids the pileup. What the hell is happening?

Mayo pops up quickly and sprints up the roadway. Lance is pushed up and 
away on his lightweight climbing machine and rejoins the Basque rider - 
he moves in front and begins to move out of the saddle - ARRGGHH! He 
pops out of the pedal and cracks himself hard on the top tube.  It seems 
like he's got a tech problem now.

But in the lead group, they have spread across the roadway.  Ullrich is 
not attacking and it appears they are waiting for Lance to regain 
contact.  Hamilton rolls up through the bunch and gestures and says to 
cool it. Mayo is on the front, biding his time.

Rubiera has drifted back, and greets Armstrong's adrenaline-fueled 
surge. He motions at him to calm down - letting him know they have 
waited for him to come back up.

All are back together as my fingers tremble.  Clearly, Lance has planned 
to attack on this climb.  Now Mayo goes again, and in a near-perfect 
replication, Armstrong moves out and past him with 9 km to go to the summit.

Ullrich again cannot hold his wheel, and everyone screams up the final 
climb.

Ullrich finds himself clearly on the defensive back down the climb, yet 
  he's not cracking.  Pain begins to etch itself into his sweaty face.

Armstrong is in his cadence now, blood already dripping from the 
swelling scrpe on his elbow - he went down very hard!

Sitting and driving the big gear at a pace that no one else can better, 
Ullrich fights to stay in touch- Basso right behind him and the 
Mayo/Zubeldia pair working with Hamlton and Moreau.

A slow motion replay shows that a spectator definitely came in contact 
with Armsrong - as they cheered his ascent, they hooked a musette bag 
strap out from underneath, snatching Lance's handlebars and flinging his 
front wheel sideways.

Ullrich demonstrates that he is a true champion by not taking advantage 
of the mishap.  It may have cost him the race - it seems it will 
certainly cost him a stage victory.

Armstrong out and away moving in his beautiful out of the saddle 
climbing style - no time gap given yet - Ullrich gritting and spitting, 
deep pain and effort.

Armstrong's jersey shows broad road smudging and his elbow is scraped 
and already swollen.  But, with just under 6 km to go, he has cut down 
the gap to just under 2 minutes from Chavanel.

An update shows the gap just 1:10 back to Armstrong, 1:45 to the Ullrich 
group.  He's gained 35 seconds on the Bianchi rider.  He's moving hard 
up the moutain with a blistering cadence on his climbing bike with the 
downtube shifter for the front derailleur. Armstrong has it absolutely 
pegged now, continueing to go - he knows that this is the day, and this 
is his move.

He's 37 seconds behind Chavanel with 5 km to go for the leader.

He now sees Chavanel ahead of him.  20 seconds to the leader, he's 
amassed 1:05 over the Ullrich group.

Chavanel takes a sad look back, receives a pat on the back from the 
flying Armstrong, who then raises himself again and moves towward the 
finish.  Armstrong now has the lead on this road stage - under the 4 km 
to go banner.

The chase group moves under the same banner less than a minute later.
Steep switchbacks remain as Ullrich reduces the gap a bit while the 
roads steepen.  Ullrich continues to build his tempo - 3 km to go and 
he's pulled a bit back - gap at 50 secondds.,

Armstrong loses a few more seconds as the gap slips to 45 seconds

Hamilton has drifted back slightly and Moreau finally clips off the back 
of the bunch.

Into the barriers, thankfully, as Lance hammers to the finish.  Out of 
the saddle and trying to find a bit more speed. Ullrich lives in a world 
of pain - slipping back to 50 seconds.

Vinokourov needs to stay within 4 minutes within the Ullrich group, he's 
about 2 minutes back from the orange-clad climbers who threaten his 
position in the overall

Lance is under the 1 km to go banner and again ties to squeeze 
everything into the pedals.  Still he holds a 50 second gap, he's 
reaching for every bit of time and doesn't pause until he's 5 meters 
past the finish line.  Lance Armstrong takes the stage, but more 
importantly, the big clock is ticking, and he gets a 20 second time 
bonus for 1st place.

In a show of shabby sportsmanship, both of the Euskatel-Euskadi riders 
move away from Ullrich as they head up to the finish.  Time bonuses are 
12 and 8 seconds for second and third respectively.  Ullrich cannot 
Mayo's accelleration, but surges to nip Zubeldia in a photo-finish - the 
bunch finishes exactly 40 seconds behind, with a reattached Moreau 
getting the same time.

Hamilton crosses alone at 1:10 - this man has simply used up all of my 
superlatives.

Vinokourov now wonders how he can check out of the hotel of pain, 
writhing in agony above his machine, crossing the 2:07 behind.

France's hope for the future, the 24 year old Sylvain Chavanel finishes 
at 2:47.


I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to my wife, dog and 
neighbors for the loud shout I emitted when Lance first went down - 
where would he have finished without that bounce off of the pavement. 
Will the time be enough?  This race certainly has not grown boring.

Stage 15 - Results
1 - Lance Armstrong - USPS - 4:29:26
2 - Iban Mayo - Euskatel-Euskadi - @ :40
3 - Jan Ullrich - Bianchi - @ :40
4 - Haimar Zubeldia - Euskatel-Euskadi - @ :40
5 - Christophe Moreau - Credit Agricole - @ :40
6 - Ivan Basso - Fassa Bortolo - @ :47
7 - Tyler Hamilton - CSC - @ 1:10
8 - Alexandre Vinokourov - Telekom - @ 2:07
9 - Jose Luis Rubiera - USPS @ 2:45
10 - Sylvain Chavanel - Brioches La Boulangerie - @ 2:47


General Classification -
MJ - Lance Armstrong - 65:36:23
2 - Jan Ullrich - @ 1:07
3 - Alexandre Vinokourov - @ 2:45
4 - Haimar Zubeldia - @ 5:16
5 - Iban Mayo - @ 5:25
6 - Ivan Basso - @ 8:08
7 - Tyler Hamilton - @ 9:02
8 - Christophe Moreau - @ 11:09
9 - Francisco Mancebo - @ 16:05
10 - Carlos Sastre - @ 16:12

Tomorrow -

Rest Day. Thank goodness.

Wednesday -
The final Pyrenean stage - Pau - Bayonne  - 197
Although there are two nasty climbs and some other smaller ones, the 
final 80 kilometers or so are a run to the coast, and the port city of 
Bayonne.  The climbs may cause some headaches for riders, as the Col du 
Soudet has pitches of 15% as it averages 7.5% for 14 km.  The climbs are 
not over, nor is the Tour.













Ullridch has mvoed up and away
























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