[Le Tour 2003]Stage 16 - Leaving the Pyrenees with Panache

[Tour Reporter]

Stage 16 - Pau - Bayonne - 197 km

Less than 500 miles to go in this Centenary Edition of the Tour.

First off, let me apologize for the title of yesterday's post - it was 
supposed to be "2nd _REST_ Day"  Oh well, I'm sure even the Rest Days 
feel like Race Days.

But we are racing again today, and a 15 rider breakaway got frisky early 
on, originally animated by iBanesto's Juan Mercado.  They'd gathered up 
more than a minute before beginning the first Cat 1 cliimb.

As they do so, CSC's Tyler Hamilton ignored the pain in his broken 
clavicle and moved away, bridging to the bunch after being initially 
struggling and behing dropped by the bunch in the opening kilometers 
from the peleton.

We're about 93 km from the end - on the second of the day's biggest 
climbs. The break still holds a 2 minute gap on what is proving to be a 
  very difficult stage.

Under the pressures of the second cliimb, the less fortunate breakaway 
members begin to suffer, and the once 15 man group now splinters badly.

Reduced to sawdust already, Remmert Wielinga of Rabobank filled his 
dance card and left the ball via the back of the bunch today.

On this Col de Bagarguy - 8 km at an average of 9% - riders are 
suffereing and popping off the back of the group.

But not Tyler - he has continued to press ahead up the roadway and has 
dropped the members of the break.  Bjaren Riis leans out the window of 
his car, urging on Hamilton who is wincing in pain - not just with every 
pedal stroke but at all times.  He clearly has decided to go alone and 
has left breakaway companions  - perhaps he feels he can move himself up 
from his 7th place position as he's only a minute out of 6th, and 4 
minutes from the top five.

The remaining riders of the original break, a small group struggles to 
keep Hamilton's gap within reason -
37 - Juan Mercado - iBanesto
79 - Nicki Sorensen, the Danish National champion, Tyler's CSC teammate
119 - Kurt Van de Wouwer - Quick Step
159 - Ludovic Turpic - Ag2R

Dangling off the back, but not yet cutting his life line is Alessio's 
Vladimir Miholjevic.

Others are littered on the slopes of this nasty climb and beginning to 
get scooped up by the main bunch - led members of USPS who tap out a 
brutal rhythm.  They begin hitting the misty cloud line on this cool day 
- 72 degrees with high humidity.

Tyler rushes upwards through the summit crowds dodging Basque flags of 
all sizes, and crests the hill - one more sharp summit to cover before 
the descent toward Bayonne.  He's gained a strong gap.

Mercado ditched his break companions and fights through the Basques to 
cut down the gap - He's still 2:38 behind and seems unable to match 
Hamilton's climbing pace.

Dufaux, Moreau and Virenque move away from the bunch to snag some stray 
climbing points about 4 minutes in back of the stage leader.

Miholjevic has rejoined the small bunch and with Van de Wouwer animates 
the chasers, who string along behind Hamilton by 2:44

Out of the mist comes the KoM pont, and Tyler moves beyond and down into 
the fogbank again. A long descent lies in front of him, and a long 
stretch of roadway beyond that.

Hamilton has notched his lead over the chase group out to 3:17, with a 
healthy 4:32 to the peleton

Kelme riders mass at the back fo the bunch, never confused with being 
the strongest decenders of the bunch.

Hamilton seems ready to press on, notching into steady, strong cadence 
as the road begins to level and roll through small villages and ancient 
low stone walls.

Michael Boogerd of Rabobank had edged out from the front of the pack 
before the short Category 3 climb, and has retained the gap on the 
descent.  He's about 45 seconds in front, but still a ways behind the 
group of 5 who chase Hamilton. Boogerd rolls up to the tail of the chase 
group.  They are at 3:30, with the big bunch behind by slightly more 
than another minute.

Tyler rolls alone under the Intermediate Sprint point, gaining a free 6 
second time bonus for his troubles.  There's another sprint point out in 
front of him, so he could scrape together a cheap 12 seconds today, even 
if he is caught.

The main field has begun the big squeeze, cutting the gap to the chase 
group to 51 seconds. The small group drop back for fuel and advice among 
their team cars and try to decide how firmly they will press this effort.

Turpin of Ag2R scoots away fromthe break bunch as they negotiate a Cat4 
climb, while the other four seem to be turning off the supercharger and 
begin drifting back to what they have decided is the inevitable catch.

Cofidis' Massimo Lelli jumps across the gap and streaks straight past 
the chase group, hoping that everyone will forget about him once they 
gather back the other riders. He proabably fancies his chances with the 
nervous-looking Turpin, who continues to check back over his shoulder, 
convinced that the jig is up for his effort.

Hamilton has edged out past 5 minutes and takes the second Intermediate 
Sprint Time bonus.  He's now threatening the third place position of 
Vinokourov, whose Telekom teammate Santiago Botero puts himself into 
pacemaking rotation.

Lelli has hooked up with Turpin, with whom he struggles to hold a 20 
second gap.

Back in the bunch, the USPS has assembled for a team picture behind 
Botero and a couple of Euskatel-Euskadi riders.  They spend quite a bit 
of time simply coasting in their slipstream.  With 42 km to go, they do 
not seem dedicated to gathering Hamilton.

Telekom has found a few more riders, and three more men move into the 
pace setting rotation. They've reabsorbed the Lelli/Turpin pair, but on 
the undulating roadway, they are having trouble to reduce the gap - 
which still sits at more than 5 minutes with 33 km to go.

Botero has again drifted to the back of events, shoulders up around his 
ears and not looking like he can continue to hold the pace of the bunch.

The tides of pain again begin to rise as Tyler taps out a beautiful TT 
cadence on udulating and twisting roads - He holds a 4:50 lead with 27 
km to go.

Under the 25 km to go banner on this do or die effort - a brave move to 
regain the podium spot.

Nothing left to do but put your head down and drive the pedals.  Hurting 
and wincing, but still holding a 4:12 gap. 12 km to go.

QuickStep and Telekom joining forces as they move under the 15 km banner.

Riis again appears on camera at the wheel of the CSC team car - he's got 
  an excited look on his face as he urges Tyler to press his efforts.

Now at 8 km to go, motorpacing without benefit of a motor... Laboring 
now as they begin to come down to the river which leads to Bayonne.  Gap 
at 3:45.  The pain must seem endless.

3:30 at 6 km to go. He's rolling alongside the river, but he's got a bit 
of a coastal breeze pushing into his face.

Telekom and Bianchi set the pace. Hamilton seems to have enough friends 
in the peleton that they've spread out a bit.  3:09 at 3 km to go.

If he can hold out, he will be the 6th US rider to win a stage in the Tour.

2 km to go.  Rocking back and forth over the top of his machine.  Mouth 
wide open, trying to draw as much air as possible.

Around a long right turn, under the 1 km to go banner - A brilliant 
effort from this amazingly classy rier.

He drives to the line, trying to raise the pace and takes a moment to 
point back at Bjarne who follows him int he car - The smile cracks 
through the pain as he wobbles a bit and slaps Bjarne's outstretched hand.

Tyle pounds on his handlebars two times, clasps his hands before him and 
then raises them to the sky.

He's done it. Tyler has done it.

The bunch has closed down a bit of the gap, continually raising their 
pace into the headwind along the river.  Vinokourov leads the bunch and 
then pulls off with 400 m to go.

Zabel moves hard and crosses the line 1:59 behind, with a mass of riders 
spread across the roadway in his wake.

Tyler is greeted by his wife and seems close to tears with the emotion 
of today's supreme winning effort.  The crowds cheer lustily as this 
courageous rider takes the podium for his winner's bouquet.

Richard Virenque pulls on another spotted jersey -- he has amassed a 
massive lead in this competition and needs only to reach Paris to join 
climbing legends Lucien Van Impe and Fredrico Bahamontes as the only 
riders who have won 6 Polka-Dot KoM jersies.

Even as the presentations take place, there is reportedly no sign of the 
  Green Points Jersey - now more than 19 minutes behind the victor. A 
quick calculation shows that Erik Zabel has edged up into 2nd place in 
the hunt for the Green Jersey, after his second place today.

It's important to note that even though Tyler only moved up one spot int 
he General Classification, he's cut the gap to the 4th and 5th place 
riders from Euskatel-Euskadi.  Zubeldia can certainly time trial, but it 
seems to be a weak spot for Iban Mayo, who now only holds a 1:10 lead 
over Hamilton.  Further down the list, Denis Menchov, who wears the 
White  Best Young Rider Jersey, clearly eyes a top 10 with a decent TT 
on Saturday.

Stage 16 Results -
1 - Tyler Hamilton - CSC - 4:59:41
2 - Erik Zabel - Telekom - @ 1:55
3 - Yuri Krivtsov - Jean Delatour - s.t.
4 - Luca Paolini - QuickStep - s.t.
5 - Gerrit Glomser - Saeco - s.t.
6 - Bram de Groot - Rabobank - s.t.
7 - Marcus Zberg - Gerolsteiner - s.t.
8 - Sandy Casar - FDJeux.com - s.t.
9 - Fabrizio Guidi - Team Bianchi - s.t.
10 - Stuart O'Grady - Credit Agricole - s.t.

General Classification -
MJ - Lance Armstrong - 70:37:59
2 - Jan Ullrich - @ 1:07
3 - Alexandre Vinokourov - @ 2:45
4 - Haimar Zubeldia - @ 5:16
5 - Iban Mayo - @ 5:25
6 - Tyler Hamilton - @ 6:35
7 - Ivan Basso - @ 8:08
8 - Christophe Moreau - @ 11:12
9 - Francisco Mancebo - @ 16:05
10 - Carlos Sastre - @ 16:12
11 - Denis Menchov - @ 17:09 (Best Young Rider)
14 - Richard Virenque - @ 22:00 (KoM Leader)


Tomorrow's Stage -
Stage 17 - Dax - Bordeaux - 181 km
Flat. Dead Flat. Speed bumps appear on the race profile.
Ok, I'm exaggerating, but the race begins at Dax, with an elevation of 
23 meters, and ends in Bordeaux, with an elevation of 5 meters.

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