[Tour 2004]Stage 10 - Limoges to Saint-Flour

[tour-junkie]

Today the hammer is poised.  How hard it will hit and who will suffer most
remains to be seen.

This is the longest stage of the Tour - it is also Bastille Day, so there is
strong impetus for a French victory.  Today, the Tour will pass through its
halfway point, and will go over 9 separate passes.  There may not be a
decisive move as far as the overall race is concerned, but the curtains will
be pulled back for many riders - or maybe more appropriately, the skin will
be pulled back and we'll get to see how the muscle is structured.

Today's Stage - Limoges to Saint-Flour - 237 km
It will be a long day in the saddle, actually the longest of the Tour as the
roads begin to kick up a bit.  We will encounter two Cat 2 climbs which
bookend the day's Cat 1 climb.  The climbs will intensify along the route of
the course, peaking at kilometer 177, when the 1580 meter peak of the Col du
Pas de Peyrol (Le Puy Mary) rolls under the wheels after a 5.5 km climb at
an average of 8% - of course there are a few pitches of up to 15%, just to
keep things interesting.  Most of us would be reconsidering what we had for
breakfast just from that, but it is merely the cruelest blow of 9
categorized climbs on the day.  Make no mistake, the topography is becoming
angry and the birds of prey are beginning to spread their wings.

The sun is out and there isn't a cloud in the sky - it is a beautiful day
with some breezes. Lance Armstrong said in a post stage interview yesterday
that he expected a hard day of racing and that some riders would find
themselves "a la maison" - back at the house...

The big points begin to be available today for those who seek the polka-dot
climber's jersey.  In another rule change, if they are Category 1 or HC,
final climbs of the stage get double the regular amount of points.

Of course, today's stage profile long ago caught the eye of Quick-
Step's Richard Virenque, who took his climbing legs out of the closet this
morning and began his serious campaign for a record 7th Mountain Jersey.

Away he went at the 35 km point today, forming a breakaway with Axel  Merkcx
of Lotto and Sylvain Chavanal of La Boulangerie.  The three some hit the
first mountain peak in just that order - Virenque - Merkcx - Chavanal.

Chavanal pretty quickly dropped off the pace, and slid back to the bunch,
which left the Virenque/Merkcx combine to begin increasing their gap and
focus upon the points. So, over the ensuing four peaks, the following
scenario played out - Virenque nicks the maximum points, Merkcx continues to
work with him but doesn't challenge, and back in the pack Paolo Bettini
fires away and prevents any other riders from taking the remaining points,
as he is a teammate of Virenque's.

The leading pair continues to add a couple minutes on each climb - edging up
from 6 to 8 and then 9 minutes on the subsequent cols.

By the time  they hit the Col de Neronne - they have cranked up a 1:048 lead
with nearly 50 miles to go - a long climb but more steady and draining than
the upcoming steep incline of the col du Peyrol.

Liberty Seguros rider Angel Vicioso has struggled to remain in contact
today, but the injuries he's suffered in the earlier stages have finally
caught up with him. He pulls over to the side of the roadway and turns in
his race number.

While the La Boulangerie taps out a controlling rhythm, some of the bigger
boys begin to roll back to the team cars.  Magnus Backstedt, Robbie McEwen
and Thor Hushovd all find pain in common as the road kicks upward.

The leading pair are on the climb of the Col du Pas de Peyrol, with Virenque
moving into his signature snakey climbing rhythm and Merkcx beginning to
pedal chunky squares as he tries to find a cadence that will get his big
body over the climb.  This climb actually has some of the steepest pitches
of anything the riders will face this race.  Virenque moves away from the
big man and accellerates.  Merckcx must be wondering just what kind of idea
this was as he finds himself gapped by a half minute.  Virenque nips over
the pass to the cheers of the partisan crowd - gaining 15 climbing points
and the polka dot jersey.

Euskatel's Iban Mayo gets the jersey for the Least Opportune Puncture, as he
flats near the base of the climb.  No pictures come to us, but race radio
reports another rider has given him a wheel. Of course, as riders are on the
first Cat 1 climb of this Tour, no one will wait other than his orange-clad
teammates.  

Liberty rider Marcus Serrano pushes away from the chasing bunch. But, his is
just the first volley as the steepening pitch continues to cause multiple
selections in the bunch. Riders fall off in big bunches like the hair of an
ex-rocker who stopped taking his Rogaine.

In the main chase group of 15 or 20 riders, Armstrong lets Ullrich set a
climbing pace while he watches and evaluates the cadence of the big German.
Ullrich in turn has been following teammate Andreas Kloden - German National
Champion.  Kloden begins to drift away while a move by an Iles Belares rider
moves off the front.

The chasing bunch holds all the riders who seem to matter, Michael
Rasmussen, Levi Leipheimer, Tyler Hamilton et. al. Everyone marks one
another as they begin to see the crest of this climb.  Yellow Jersey wearing
Thomas Voeckler drops off the pace for a second, then fights his way back up
to the head of events and actually manages to cross in second place.

Iban Mayo has been climbing under pressure from a ways behind, with
teammates around him, but suffering from the delay of wheel changes after
that untimely puncture.

Now suffering on the downhill is Matthias Kessler, a T-Mobile rider who
overshoots a left-hand turn, endos and whips into a fence post with his
mid-back.  Doctors are with him, but he's at least moving around.

Mayo has not hooked up with the main chase group, which screams down the
twisty descent giving no quarter to the Basque team.

At the next climb, Merkcx has been unable to reattach with Virenque and
crosses about a minute behind on the Category 3 Col d'Entremont.

A fairly serious accident seems  to have occurred on the descent - a Credit
Agricole rider is crumpled into a ditch at the side of the road -  the
movements of the medical team are fast and somewhat frenzied - never a good
sign. It looks to be Sebastian Hinault, who they finally move onto a soft
litter so they can move him to a stretcher.  Not clear what happened or how
he's hurt, but his Tour is clearly over.

Things stabilize now as Virenque rides along alone, Merkcx hovers about 1:08
behind, and for some reason Christophe Moreau nicks some climbing points
about 8:30 in arrears. The bunch has more or less reformed, with those who
you would expect.  The Col d'Entremont climb is really more of a bump on the
descent from the high point of the day, with a Category 2 Col de
Prat-de-Bouc bringing the riders back up to nearly 1400 meters before
desending to the finish (which of course has a crisp little climb before the
finish).

Again the team of the Yellow Jersey his at the head of events - La
Boulengerie ticks along at the head of the swelling chase group - it seems
to be now a select bunch of 35 or 40 riders.

Virenque is on the climb proper now, although he rolls between huge numbers
of screaming-crazed-Bastille-celebrating French Nationals, he's found the
zone he knows well, out of the saddle working the bike, eyes focused
somewhere up the roadway, knowing that he rides on his favorite terrain.
He's pushed out his advantage to over 3 minutes, although the main chase
group has closed within 8:30.

The devil appears behind Merkcx who continues to grit it out.  Up front,
Virenque has found that his bike does have a saddle, and he easily ticks
over the pedals.

Cofidis rider has become a sufferin' B, dangling off the back of the chase
group, then scrambling to reattach when the pitch of the climb allows. He
has managed to remain in contact with the Group That Matters,  which may
keep him in 2nd position overall, but should give him a Green Jersey Point
or two at the finish.  Telekom's Santiago Botero now begin to drift back a
bit. 

Virenque is within a kilometer of the crest and just thrums along with a
crisp seated cadence - he crosses his 9th peak on the day in first place.
Now less than 18 miles to the finish.

Voeckler and the Yellow Jersey slides to the last spot in the lead bunch
even while his teammates drive the pace up front.  Postal riders shadow the
La Boulangerie members.

Merckx crosses over the summit now 6:47 behind Virenque, and he's only 20
seconds ahead of the chase bunch, spearheaded by the semi-attack of
Quick-Step rider Laurent Dufaux, who nabs the stray climbing points before
Moreau can nip out and grab them. (Although why the
not-particularly-known-for-his-climbing Moreau feels compelled to grab
Mountain Points is beyond my ability to ken.)  The bunch catches up with
Merkcx in short order, so now Virenque goes it alone, lead down now to just
under 7 minutes.  He passes under the 20 km to go banner.

The pain has crept into the edges of the face of Virenque, but he continues
to drive the big gear on the long gradual descent. A noticeable crosswind
has shown up, but his time has not been reduced by more than 15 seconds in
the past 5 km. Given the length of the stage, this effort could actually
land him in the record books with one of the longest victorious breakaways.
It depends a bit on when they credit him with escaping the bunch.

Though uncategorized, the final is pretty nasty.  Virenque has held his 6:44
gap as he cruises under the 10  km to go banner.  A couple minutes later,
the chase bunch flows under the 15 km to go point. A good chunk of USPS
riders are in this group - Hincapie, Noval, Landis, Rubiera all calmly where
they should be as they seem to pull off the throttle a bit.

Up front, Virenque drops through a twisty bit of roadway in a small village.
The pain has been spreading through his body, but seems able to move past
it. He's also move past the 5 km to go banner.

Stephane Goubert of Ag2R goes into a full-body-clench and drifts off the
back of the chase bunch.  He's clearly cramped and can suddenly barely turn
the pedals. Hopefully someone in the team car brought a chisel.

Virenque has descended down into the town and now begins the effort to the
finish.  All up hill, out of the saddle, he flies up the final bits to
thunderous applause.  He takes a final look behind to make sure no one has
suddenly come up behind, pulls around the lasts left-hand bend and points
skyward in a double-handed salute to the crowd.  He has won, crossing the
line in just over 6 hours.

The bunch hammers around onto the final climb and whip around a hairpin with
600 to go.  Mancebo moves hard and Veockler finds his wheel.

Kloden and Zabel grind uphill and pass Mancebo and Voeckler with Lance
Armstrong slapped onto the their wheel.  A gap appears in between the other
members of the group, but the riders howl to close it.  Ullrich seems to
have reattached himself to the leading group, along with the unlucky Basque
Mayo, but Heras, Leipheimer and possibly even Tyler Hamilton may have found
themselves a few seconds back on the day.  It does seem that they have
dumped 7 seconds on the day.

Stage 10 - Stage Results
1 - Richard Virenque - Quick-Step - 6:00:24
2 - Andreas Kloden - T-Mobile - @ 5:19
3 - Erik Zabel - T-Mobile - s.t.
4 - Francisco Mancebo - Illes Beleares - s.t.
5 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangerie - s.t.
6 - Lance Armstrong - USPS - s.t.
7 - Georg Totschnig - Gerolsteiner - s.t.
8 - Kim Kirchen - Fassa Bortolo - s.t.
9 - Michele Scarponi - Domina Vacanze - s.t.
10 - Pietro Caucchioli - Alessio - s.t.


General Classification After 10 Stages
1 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangerie - 42:42:14
2 - Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis - @3:00
3 - Sandy Casar - FDJeux.com - @4:13
4 - Richard Virenque - Quick-Step - @6:52
5 - Jakob Piil - CSC - @7:31
6 - Lance Armstrong - USPS - @9:35
7 - Erik Zabel - T-Mobile - @9:58
8 - Jose Azevedo - USPS - @ 10:04
9 - Jose Enrique Guiterrez - Phonak - @10:09
10 - Francisco Mancebo - Illes Balears - @10:18
11 - Tyler Hamilton - Phonak - s.t.

Tomorrow's Stage - 
Stage 11 - Saint-Flour to Figeac - 164 km
What this day lacks in distance it definitely makes up for in change of
elevation.  Although certainly not a "mountain stage", there will be three
factors which influence this stage.  First, there will be some knackered
legs after the efforts of Stage 10 - nine climbs do not simply melt from the
quads when you take a shower.  Second, the riders will probably not see a
flat stretch of roadway the entire day.  Third, Stage 12 will be on
everyone's mind - it ends with two major climbs; Col d'Aspin (12.5 km at an
average of 6.3%) and La Mongie (15 km at an average 8%).  So, it the right
break gets away, they may find themselves able to "pull a Virenque", but if
any of the potential leaders twitch towards the front, it could cause some
hellish infighting.

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