[Tour 2004]Stage 14 - Carcassonne to Nimes

tour-junkie race-report@cyclofiend.com
Sun, 18 Jul 2004 08:56:52 -0700


The first slices have cut deeply:
Tyler Hamilton is gone, the other American (and Santa Rosa homeboy) Levi
Leipheimer sits 10:12 back, former teammate Roberto Heras is 27:13 aft, and
the man formerly knowne as Iban Mayo finds himself 44:42 behind Armstrong.
 
A side-of-the-road chat with Tyler was a mix of detachment and deep sorrow.
As he wiped himself down and turned over his number. "As soon as I hit the
mountains I was in pain.  It's a sad day.  I've Never dropped out of a Tour.
Here on the last climb, I was empty."  The images of Tyler's scraped up
back, and the bandages on his low back, indicate just how much pain he has
ridden through so far.  With a trashed lower back, it's hard to comprehend
how Tyler could have even hung on this far.

Another image: I saw a still photo of Ullrich as he made his way up the
final climb yesterday.  It was from the rear, and he pressed down hard with
his right leg.  Even from the distance of the shot, and with the details
reduced by the resoultion of my computer screen, you could see extreme
definition of his upper leg and the insanely rippling tendons of his calf
and hamstring.  It looked like the medical illustrations for muscle detail.
So, it isn't that Ullrich came in fat and slow.  Certainly, he had to crunch
to lose weight over the last month, but he's clearly in shape and has been
staying reasonbly close for a big man on steep roads.  Armstrong's goal was
to get at least 4 minutes over Ullrich before the final day long individual
time trial.  To gain that time and more in two days has been a serious
psychological  blow.
Ullrich himself was quoted as saying that the race is over for him -- a
staggering admission at this point of the race. While you can never count
out the big German, unless he has opted for an extremely cagey game, he has
allowed the wrong thoughts to occupy his mind. Historically, Ullrich has
always improved into the final week of the Tour, and the long time trial
does seem to favor his massive gears and stunning power.

The wreckage which has taken place does not stem from a lack of preparation
by the other riders. It's just the level of dominance by the USPS has been
raised to such a stunning level.  The team took over early yesterday,
following a absurd number of early attaccks, and put things under control.
They positioned themselves at the front and just kept tightening the screw.
On the climbs, particularly the final one, it wasn't so much that Armstrong
attacked as it was that no one could follow the pace any longer. Every one
of the team members on the USPS team have come into this year's Tour in
perfect condition, with a clear understanding of both their job and the
team's goal.  The power being exhibited and the control the USPS has
maintained has raised the bar for  performance.

In the time of Miguel Indurain, his squad tended to control from the front
as well, but they never seemed to inflict damage.  They would let "Big Mig"
chop out his big time gaps in the Time Trials, but didn't crush riders the
way that the USPS seems to this year.

611 miles to go in this race, with some serious efforts still lie ahead.

Stage 14 - Carcassonne to Nimes - 192 km
I don't know where they found the dead-flat-calm topography for this stage,
but there are a number of riders who will rejoice - or at least may stop
bleeding from their eyes. There may be a speed bump or something halfway
through, but this is as unlike the previous stage as could be achieved.
Nothing at this point of the race is easy, but at least the racers are not
heading upwards. Winds could be a factor today.

An absolutely scorching day in the south of France, full and direct sun
falls on the riders as they move in parallel to the coastline on the
Mediterranian Sea.

Today Robbie McEwen holds 9 points over Erik Zabel.  McEwen is also nursing
a sore knee and some serious buttock-centered road rash.  Zabel could
conceivably win a record Green jersey, benefitting from attrition and
perseverance.  An example, one rider's exit which I missed was that of
Magnus Backstedt, who may have left yesterday.  But, make no mistake, Zabel
is a cagey bike rider, and certainly one of the
hardest-working-men-in-bike-racing.  He's one of the few riders who no one
ever seems to say anything bad about.  Universally respected, he has a great
love for cycling.

No abandonments today, even though they are saying Bobby Julich had
fractured his hand (Now when'd he do that?) and Jean-Patrick Nazon tangled
musettes with a teammate and pitched himself face-first onto a picnic
blanket at the side the road.  Embarrassed and shaking the weeds out of his
helmet, he rejoins the bunch.

>From the first hour and a half, after flurries of attacks and subsequent
shut downs, an acceptable break finally materializes.

13 - Santiago Botero - T-Mobile
26 - Nicolas Jalabert - Phonak
36 - Inigo Landaluze - Euskatel
37 - Egol Martinez - Euskatel
45 - Aitor Gonzalez - Fassa Bortolo
54 - Pierrick Fedrigo - Credit Agricole
89 - Peter Wrolich - Gerolsteiner
114 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - Liberty
156 - Marc Lotz - Rabobank
167 - Christophe Mengin - FDJeux.com

86 km to go, they move outand work their way up to a minute, then quickly
two minutes, and within a commercial break they hover past three minutes.
The best placed rider in the bunch is a good 38 minutes back, and there is
no one in the hunt for Sprint Jersey points, so the rest of the riders are
content to let La Boulangerie set a reasonable pace while they hang on and
recover from the stunning efforts of the past 48 hours.

Oscar Sevilla must have bounced off the ground at some point yesterday, and
he checks in with the team doctors to get his hand and wrist rewrapped.

Continuing to slice through the heat, the gap is now out to 4:15.  The
riders continue to nab water bottles from the back of the neutral motorcycle
and rotate through the front with smooth dexterity.

Everyone in the peloton seems to be content with the composition of the
breakaway, which allows them to recover and stretch the muscles which were
so taxed by the last days' work.  It also allows me to write more of a
"preamble" to this posting.

The dog wakes up and we go tend to business and breakfast.  Little else
transpires, except a squirrel drops a half-eaten apple down at us while we
were in the back yard.

Meanwhilte, with 27 miles to go, the gap sits at 11:00 and climbing. Unless
they are waylaid by cattle, railroad crossings or the hand motions of Bob
Roll.

With just under 15 miles to go, the gap sits at 13:01.

13:23

Crikey.

Under the 20 km to go banner now. Paul begins describing the vintage autos
which are seen on the course.  The Tour is never boring, it's just that
sometimes there just isn't too much going on.

Under the 10 km, the cries of "Allez! Allez! Allez!" echo suddenly - an
actual attack has occurred. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano jumps to wake everyone
up, and then Aitor Gonzalez moves hard after they reel in his move.

This in turn gets shut down quickly, as Fredrigo moves hard and gets a bit
of a gap, his efforts matched by Landaluze.  Jalabert fights back up with a
couple riders and everyone is together once more.

Aitor Gonzalez jumps to the far side of the roadway and tries to roll away.
He has some serious time-trialing chops, and they close the gap quickly. But
it suddenly stretches out again and Gonzalez gains a serious gap.  Behind
them, the other break members begin mucking around and eyeing one another
instead of sucking it up and closing it down.  The Euskatel riders, at least
one of whom should just have put his head down and buried himself to rope in
this attack, find their tactical decisions to be sadly lacking and they are
flailing around in the middle of the chasing group.  Now Gonzalez - a
serious time trialist - has moved out to a lead of 16 seconds.

The other riders suddenly realize that the Euskatel emperors have no
clothes, and Gonzalez de Galdeano gains a small gap, shadowed by Fedrigo who
leaves him behind as he jumps over the top of him.  The efforts become
frenzied, from every rider except the orange-clad.  Then Mengin moves out
and Jalabert realizes this is his ticket. They move away and the French pair
immediately work well enough together to ride away from the others.  More
open roadway has appeared among the former break members.  Though they are
moving well, Aitor Gonzalez seems to have made the effort which will pay off
today.

Gonzalez negotiates the big turns in the last 1000 meters of the race - his
speed is just shy of 33 miles per hour.  He sits up and relishes the fruits
of his well-executed efforts.

Jalabert moves hard to get the jump on Mengin, and takes second on the
stage.    

The big pfffffft on the effort came from the two Euskatel riders, who arrive
in back with the chase cars - shattered by the effort and outfoxed by the
tactics.


1 - Aitor Gonzalez - Fassa Bortolo - 4:18:32
2 - Nicolas Jalabert Phonak - :25
3 - Christophe Mengin - FDJeux.com - s.t.
4 - Pierrick Fedrigo - Credit Agricole - :29
5 - Peter Wrolich - Gerolsteiner - :31
6 - Mark Lotz - Rabobank - s.t.
7 - Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano - Liberty - s.t.
8 - Santiago Botero - T-Mobile - :37
9 - Inigo Landaluze - Euskatel - :41
10 - Egoi Martinez - Euskatel - :42

In what is really another race, Lotto drives the pace of the main bunch
while McEwen sits back behind a long line of teammates.  A slight rise finds
Moreau at the head of events, with Hushovd tucked in two riders back.  Zabel
sits right behind him as they go under 2 km to go. O'Grady shows his head
for a second before ducking being his big teammate Janek Tombak.

The speeding bunch lean into the first turn and under the 1 km to go banner.
Lotto now back on the front, though McEwen pulls his disappearring act and
cannot be seen. Tombak begins to pull off, but a stream of colloquial
reminders by O'Grady puts him back on task.

Around nearly 270 degrees of the roundabout, not a brake lever tapped in the
bunch, they scream out and smell the line. They spreak across the wide
roadway - Zabel follows Aldag, then kicks it for the line.   But, here comes
Hushovd! The big Norwegian flag catches up on the German and then McEwen
materializes out of a manhole on the street - his turn of speed simply
awe-inspring.  The light blue jersey of Danilo Hondo finds some daylight,
and he explodes up on the right shoulder of Hushovd.
Three abreast they hit the line - it's McEwen - Hushovd  - Hondo!

Stage 14 - Pt. Deux Results -

11 - Robbie McEwen - 14:12
12 - Thor Hushovd - Credit Agricole
13 - Danilo Hondo - Gerolsteiner
14 - Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis
15 - Erik Zabel - T-Mobile

All riders s.t.

Rest Day Tomorrow - a few hours spinning and maybe a hard effort just to
keep the edge in the muscles.

Tuesday's Stage - 
Valreas to Villard de Lans - 180.5 km
To the Alps, to the Alps.  Clean cows, wildflowers, and that Von Trapp
family wandering around singing. 7 big climbs will test the riders, and as
others have observed, the Alps are different than the Pyrenees.  Near the
middle of the stage, the riders will hit the Category 2 Col des Limouches -
almost 11 km at 6.3% average - and then they go immediately up the Category
1 Col de l'Echarasson, 12 km at 7.4%.  Three categorized climbs follow even
that effort, and there will be much to monitor on these little-travelled
climbs.

Wednesday's Stage -
Individual Time Trial - L'Alpe D'Huez - 15.5 km
780 meters elevation to 1850 meters at the finish. The classic 21
switchbacks, ridden one rider at a time. You do the math - remember to
multiply by three when you're done to get a rough idea of feet climbed.  For
the locals, it's like doing a time trial up Mount Tamalpais - well I guess
if you add a couple hundre more feet of elevation. You know that this stage
will weigh on everyone's mind for the next couple days.  But, here's a hint
- Thursday is much worse...

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