[Tour 2004]Stage 5 - Amiens to Chartres

tour-junkie race-report@cyclofiend.com
Thu, 08 Jul 2004 09:22:59 -0700


Stage 5 - Amiens to Chartres - 200 km
We may end up with an actual day for the sprinters - a flat profile
(although there is a little Category 4 bump at around 70 km)with no
craziness may finally let the fast men rub elbows at speed.

The riders have awakened to "Spring Classics" weather this morning - grey
rainy weather with strong gusty winds.  What could have been a simple day
for the sprinters could be another day of selection hell for the riders
whose attention lapses. It could be a day of crashes and echelons, riding in
the gutter and trying to hold the wheel ahead of you. In short, a very
difficult day for a light rider like Mayo, or for a rider who does not enjoy
the cooler weather, like Ullrich.

This is not to say that USPS won't suffer, but when you look at the
dominance they have been able to exert over the race when, you get the sense
that Lance Armstrong was not the only rider who spent a very serious period
training for this event. Clearly, first time Tour Team member Benjamin Noval
has been having a tough time of it, having to ride home alone yesterday,
struggling just to stay inside the time limit.  He's crashed twice, and
clearly paid the price for it yesterday.  He has to be a bit nervous, amazed
at the speed of the race and the fitness of the competitors.  Watching the
riders of the USPS surround the weeping Noval after he finished yesterday's
stage indicates just how strongly they pull together to make sure he
remembers just why he was included.  Hopefully, he can relax and pull
together today.

The actual timing rules for the Team Time Trial was a bit more complex than
I realized yesterday - despite the USPS team having won by 1:07, they were
given only a 20 second lead over the second place Phonak squad - the gaps
were meted out with 10 second increments until it reached 3 minutes at
maximum - not the 2:30 which I'd stated earlier.  It's a bit goofy

183 riders begin the day - they will be making their way to the Tour's
first-ever finish in the town of Chartres.

At about the 12 km point, a breakaway moved clear of the bunch:

91 - Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis
131 - Magnus Backstedt - Alessio
66 - Jakob Piil - CSC
162 - Sandy Casar - FDJeux.com
129 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangere

The gap sits at 15:36, which puts Voekler into the leaders jersey on the
road right now.

Aussie standout Bradley McGee of FDJeux.com is again having trouble holding
on as the riders begin to echelon into small bunches which have noticable
gaps.  A decided split has occurred in the peleton, as Robbie McEwen's Lotto
squad has decided that the gap has grown large enough and begins to put
pressure on at the head of events. Flags are snapping at the side the road
and the riders snarl and spit to hold the echelon which stretches across the
roadway.  Gaps continue to appear and then get closed.  This is an ugly day
- thankfully not rainy, but the winds are continue to cause selections in
the bunch.

USPS sits near the front, but wisely have decided that the Yellow Jersey is
not worth keeping yet.  They position themselves well, exerting just enough
effort to be where they want to be.  Of course, Ullrich's squad is right
there as well, but so is Roberto Heras, who with his Liberty Segurous squad
has quietly kept himself out of trouble.

92 km to go, the gap hovers at 15 minutes.

Riders continue to get spat out the back, as winds hit from the head and
side of the bunch.  It is not so much that the pressure is on, rather the
winds are so nasty that the riders absolutely need the protection - as soon
as they get slightly separated, they hit the wall of wind and get pushed
away.  More riders drift back to the suffering McGee, who at least has some
friendly wheels to follow in his painful effort.

== Crash in the field
Rabobank's Michael Boogerd and a Fassa Bortolo rider hit the pavement on a
turn as they tear through the town of Limay. The shock waves hit USPS riders
Jose Luis Rubiera and Manuel Beltran - Beltran seemingly having caught the
worst of it after endoing over the prone Fassa Bortolian.

The USPS boys have spread across the roadway and slowed the pace.  The
stunning thing is that this is the second time we've had a crash which
occurred in the first 20 riders - another reminder of just how tenuous the
grasp is on adhesion raised to the power of early-stage-nervousness.

Fassa Bortolo was penalized 2 minutes in yesterday's TTT - one for pushing
riders and another for drafting behind a team car.  Like no one would
notice...

The gap to the breakaway is increasing again, now over 16 minutes, as the
USPS tap out a recovery-level tempo as the riders move among the stands of
trees on this rainy day. They are making no move to push the pace, as riders
reattach and swell the peleton - USPS wants to make sure everyone is in good
shape. Rubiera glides along next to the race doctor's vehicle and others who
did the roadway double bounce queue nearby.

With 76 km to go, the gap has pressed out to 16:49.  Voeckler may be pleased
to add a Yellow Jersey to his French National Champion's Jersey.  In other
jersey news - specifically the Green Points Jersey - O'Grady has been
quietly snagging sprint points on the road, and a win on today's stage could
push him into second.  He's coming back froma nasty early season, both
personally and with the allegations of drug use within his Cofidis squad
(O'Grady was not involved in those allegations).

On the other side of events, Tyler Hamilton is towed back to the tail of the
bunch after either a natural break or another flat.  It's noticable that the
Phonak squad has been suffering what seems to be more than the usual number
of punctures.  I have to wonder if they are maybe reconsidering their tire
sponsor...

Now the break is away by 17:15 - with 42 miles to go the breakaway the gang
of five could actually begin thinking about holding on to the end. The
interesting visual in this bunch is watching the lucky rider who gets to sit
behind the massive Magnus Backstedt - in this case it's O'Grady.  The Aussie
is no flyweight, but in comparison to the big Swede, he looks like a
climber.

Word now comes that Bradley McGee has abandoned the Tour.  He'll heave a big
sigh and focus on the Olympics later this summer.

===== Crash in the field
Phonak rider Jose Guiterrez and a RAGT rider bounced off the pavement s
things squeezed down to negotiate a divided roadway.  Both are up, although
the RAGT rider does not get away very quickly - more than likely he will
have a longer wait to have his team car reach him.

Guiterrez rides another mile or so and then realizes that he has a broken
handlebar after the crash.  He changes bikes and restarts.

The lead bunch has hit the rains again, as they head into the town or
Orvillies for the third sprint point for the day. O'Grady wins the maximum 6
points from the front and Backstedt nicks the second place points. After
they leave the town, the 5 riders nip right back into a tight rotation,
ticking over the pedals and pulling for a second or two to keep the pace as
high as possible. There's no question about the focus of this bunch.

Miles roll along and my dog decides that it's breakfast time.  By the time
she does her business and gobbles the grub, there's still a good 24 miles
left and the gap has settled at around 14 and a half minutes or so.  It's
pretty clear that barring a railway crossing or a fistfight between the
leading riders, they'll hold a gap to the finish.  It remains to be seen how
much the other teams will allow it to become.

Right now, that seems to be "more" rather than less - the gap has pushed out
again to 15:25.  Voeckler needs only to maintain a 3 minute lead over the
peleton to assure his Yellow Jersey.  Doing so will make him the fifth
French rider to wear both the National Champions Jersey and the Yellow
Jersey.  That should be plenty of time to dink around near the finish - not
that the priority of the stage win will fall to Voeckler.  Piil, for
example, has been in three breakaways this tour, and a stage victory has to
be a priority for Bjarne Riis' CSC squad.  He's certainly a cagey rider,
well able to work the dynamics of the bunch to his advantage.  The two
sprinters - O'Grady and Backstedt - are the fast men in the bunch, but that
means it will be  up to them to chase any moves which occur in the final
kilometers.

There's a strong crosswind at the finish line, and the roads seem almost dry
for the lead bunch.  There is a bit of a rise in the roadway at about 600
meters to go, which could either become a nasty surprise or a springboard to
victory. 


==== Crash in the field
Midpack on a slick right hand turn. 5 or 6 riders, including the Green
Jersey wearing Robbie McEwen and the Polka-Dot Jersey leader Paolo Bettini.
A rider went down on the outside of a curve and the rest seem to have
swerved and dumped while trying to avoid him.

Meanwhile, in the town of Maintenon, O'Grady leads the breakaway through the
final sprint point of the day.  Although McEwen popped up and got away
quickly, he will need to finish in the top 20 in order to gain points for
the Green jersey.  O'Grady would love nothing more to win this jersey, which
has eluded him in the past.

McEwen skips to the side of the roadway and replaces his front wheel.
Wisely, he had waited until he'd rejoined the bunch before swapping out the
wheel, which seems to have been damaged in the crash.

Out front, the lead group push on through the headwind, which bends the
trees and make the flags snap with just over 9 miles to go.  Adding insult
to injury, a strong storm now begins to roll into the finish line.  The
camera lens shows that the rain is coming directly into their faces.

Backstedt makes a strong move with 6 miles to go.  Piil moves hard to regain
his wheel and O'Grady and Veockler jump ahead to teach him a lesson.  The
big Swede has passed around the twitchy cup, and everyone seems suddenly
jumpy after the moves come back toether

Piil makes a hard move, but Voeckler again drives to regain his wheel.

Despite prognostications to the contrary, Voeckler certainly is not going to
pull off and let riders just take the win.  Certainly, he wants  the Yellow
Jersey, but a French rider on a French team wearing the French National
Champions Jersey just might want to take a stage in the Tour.  Of course,
the other Frenchman, Sandy Casar, has just been quietly hiding out, letting
everyone 

Voeckler punches the pedals and this time it's Backstedt's turn to chace him
down.  O'Grady waits for Casar and Piil before bringing up the rear.

Again Voeckler goes and Piil nabs him quickly.

Voeckler finds some momentum off of a curve and moves ahead again.  Piil
hits it hard on the catch and O'Grady is in his rear jersey pocket.
Backstedt and Casar can't quite

====== Crash in the field.
Middle of the mid-pack, the classic spreading tumble.  Reports put
Christophe Moreau of Credit Agricole on the ground, and we can see Erik
Dekker threading through riders to grab his bicycle.  But, the cameras
quickly give up on these goings-on, as there are two French riders in the
break...


"The heck with it," says O'Grady who goes and immediately gets a gap over
Voeckler and Piil.  He does not want to leave anything to chance on the wet
roadway with only 1.8 miles to go.  He's pummelling the pedals, but Voeckler
has been trying to close the gap, and now Piil trades in with a pull back to
O'Grady. They have left Casar and Backstedt.

Voeckler has gone again on another turn, O'Grady closing the gap with a well
modulated effort.  Piil again using his tactical sense, but O'Grady has
forced him to the front.  The two others regain, Voeckler goes and Backstedt
cannot match the accelleration

This time Backstedt goes agains the left hand bariers.  Casar pulls out to
go, O'Grady dips to the other side and goes hard to take the stage - no one
will get around his final effort!

Stage 5 Results
1 - Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis - 5:05:58
2 - Jakob Piil - CSC
3 - Sandy Casar - FDJeux.com
4 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangerie
5 - Magnus Backstedt - Alessio

All riders same time.  O'Grady gains 35 points toward the Green Jersey
competition.

Behind them, the peleton still chugs along through the streets.  Into the
final stretch (some time later) McEwen stages behind Nazon, while Danilo
Hondo and Thor Hushovd decide that they want some points as well.
Hondo goes waaaaaaaay too early against the left hand side of the roadway,
and McEwen fights to get around some slowing riders.  Hushovd is closing
fast as McEwen seems to get ahead of the slowing Hondo just before the line.
That's one for the cameras, but it looked like McEwen has nabbed his points.

General Classification -
1 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangerie - 20:03:49
2 - O'Grady - @3:13
3 - Casar - @4:06
4 - Backstedt - @6:03
5 - Piil - @ 6:58


Tomorrow's Stage - Bonneval to Angers - 196 km
Flat, flat, flat, flat. Not even a categoriezed climb as the riders continue
to head southwest into France.  Of course, the weather could continue to be
a factor until Sunday, at least.


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