[Tour 2005]Stage 4 - Team Time Trial - Tours to Blois

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Tue, 5 Jul 2005 11:16:02 -0500


Stage 4 - Team Time Trial
Tours to Blois - 67.5 km
A classic Time Trial course revisited this year, flat and mostly straight for the first 40 km, then a series of short climbs before a descent to the finish.  Though the weather is unsettled, this has a good chance of being the year that the 1995 TTT record speed of 54.930 kph will be beaten.  After all, the fastest ever road stage (won by Mario Cipollini in 1999) finished in this town.

Despite the time "safety net" which has gutted some of the importance of this discipline, there is still time to be lost.  Maximum gaps are 20 for the 2nd place team, then 10 seconds more until the 15th place gap. The maximum time loss for the slowest team can be only 3 minutes. As an example, the slowest team last year finished 7:33 behind the US Postal Service but got docked only 3 minutes to their time. 

Bit of a strong wind today, and the early squads form mild echelons which flare slightly from the force. A high overcast sheilds the riders from direct sun, but a bit of blue has begun to peak through here and there. 

Team Discovery will be starting second from last, while CSC gets to know everyone's time by beginning in the final position, thanks to David Zabriske's hold on the Yellow Jersey.

26:47 for Euskatel-Euskadi at the first time check stands as the best time so far.

FDJ.com pulls away and forms quickly into their position, behind Brad McGee's lead.  The ballet begins as they take reasonably short pulls, dropping riders off quickly enough that two riders are dropping back at any one time. A steady swaying seems to continually ripple through the French team.  With a slight tailing cross wind, and many of the riders perch on the bullhorns rather than the aero extensions. Not spotless execution as of this moment.

Into the second time check, Euskatel drives to the second time check and goes through at 49:26.

In other race news, it looks like I haven't properly paid tribute to the holder of the best young rider jersey

Illes Balears pulls away from the line - last year's 3rd place squad doesn't seem to be on anyone's short list, but the Spanish squad does understand how to run tier squad in the TTT.

On the roasdway, Ag2R looks like they have tried to set up their own bunch sprint to get to the second time check - they pass through at 50:47 - more than a minute 20 behind the fast orangemen of the Basque country.

Liquigas has pushed ahead at the first time check.  

Rabobank rides rear disk wheels like everyone else, but seem to have comparatively low-tech time trial bicycles. If I were to bet, I'd say that they simply have put handlebar extensionson their regular road bikes. 

It will be interesting to see how the teams finish out the course today, after hammering flat roads for more than three quarters of the course,they hit the ripply bits.  Lance Armstrong said in an interview yesterday that finishing with all the riders is not a priority, but winning the stage is.  As with prior years, the clock stops on the bunch when the fifth rider crosses the line.

Lotto flows neatly through the 2nd time checkat 48:41, three-quarters of a minute ahead of Euskatel. They seem to realize that a high GC finish for Cadel Evans requires a decent result today.

Euskatel brings 6 riders over the line in 1:14:38

The Big Pink skinsuit of Jan Ullrich rolls away from the ride.  

FDJ.com go through the second time check well down the standings, continuing their . 

Discovery glides down the start ramp and then immediately falls into position.

Cofidis comes through with 5 riders, perhaps choosing to leave behind the more gravitationally challenged members. But, their finishing time leaves nothing to be envied.  

T-Mobile goes through 9 seconds slower than Liberty Seguros, notching into the 2nd place at the first time check. This may also indicate that Liberty Seguros has remembered some of the playbook techniques from their ONCE days.

Discovery scream over the flat roadways. 62 kph according to the speedometer of the accompanying motorcycle.

Gerolsteiner passes through in 8th place at the first time check.  This could hamper Levi Leipheimer's effort, as others have posited.

Liberty Seguros rumble through the 2nd time check showing that their early pace was no fluke - their time of 47:28 have them best so far.

Discovery comes up 9 seconds behind Liberty Seguros at the first time check, putting them dead even with T-Mobile at this point on the course.  

T-Mobile have increased their pace, and pass through the second time check at 47:15 - 12 seconds ahead of Liberty Seguros' time, but they have blown Tobias Steinhauser out the back with a good 20 km to go. Steinhauser looks like all he wants to do is stop pedaling and curl up for a nap.

First time check for the Yellow Jersey squad - 25:36 for Team CSC, 15 seconds faster than Discovery at that point.

Liberty Seguros drops away Marcos Serrano, who also could not stay stuck last year.  They continue forward with 8 riders.

Illes Balears has been whittled down to 5 riders, but 1:12:44 means they have jumped into first on the road. They may have left wreckage behind them, but have the best time.

...well, not anymore.  Credit Agricole nips them by a bit - 1:12:20.

Phonak sets their mark at 47:57 speeding up as they move along the course. Landis' chances depend upon a good effort here today.

Liberty Seguros channels the spirit of ONCE, crossing the line with 8 riders at 1:11:32, well ahead of Credit Agricole and guaranteeing that whichevery squad wins today will set a Team Time Trial record for the Tour.

47:14 for Discovery at the second check - one second ahed of T-Mobile. 14 seconds ahead of Liberty Seguros.

Team CSC now pulls for the left hand turn which marks the second time check - the well-drilled squad stops the interim watch at 47:08 - 6 seconds ahead.  But, if you are paying attention, you'll note that their lead ahead of Discovery and T-Mobile has been halved since the first check.

1:11:14 for T-mobile.  Ullrich leads the squad over the line, throwing off the foul taste of the first day's effort against the clock.

Phonak have sawn off a second rider - Nicolas Jalabert pedals squares and blows a head gasket just a few moments after Bert Grabsch filled up his dance card. Now Alexandre Moos gets all crunchy and falls away.  Now rider #6 Stephen Zampieri can't even manage to take his pulls, letting the teammates slip in front of him.

Levi Leipheimer brings his Gerolsteiner boys over the line in provisional fifth place, with a time of 1:12:44

CSC rider Giovanni Lombardi finds his phenomenal sprinting and leadout skills are not searving him well on the inclines, and he drifts backward from the remaining eight riders who thump towards the finish.  

Phonak pushes Leipheimer's squad down a spot, finishing in 1:12:10, though seeming to make a slightly larger meal of the final meters.  They are led to the finish by Floyd Landis.

Armstrong has been saying all along that the final 15 kilometers are the most important on this course.  He's been taking progressively longer pulls at the front of the line, letting his other teammates rest just that touch longer as they continue to move well in unison. They are just crushing along into the last meters on the course, and at 1:10:38, Armstrong emphatically punches his front wheel across the line 

Exactly 4:58 seconds behind, team CSC holds on to a diminishing time cushion.  They were ahead by only 2 seconds at the semi-official check at 61.5km, and as they pass under the 4 km to go banner, they need to click four sub-one-minute kilos.

Through the town streets proper, with narrowing in the roadway from the barriers and twists through intersections and traffic islands.  Dicey business, and they are now in danger of sacrificing the lead on the stage and the Yellow Jersey.  Another banner overhead - with an eye on the time, it's clear they need to cover 2 km in 2 minutes EXACTLY!

Zabriske is down!  Following a tight right turn, the Yellow Jersey is on  the ground, sliding around and coming to a stop against the barriers, while a gendarme jumps out of the way.  The rest of the team do not slow down - CSC are onto the home stretch driving on without the yellow jersey - it will be extremely close...

1:10:41! 

Discovery will take the stage!

Zabriske must take the actual time on the roadway - He pedals slowly along with a phalanx of photographers.  Torn and bleeding - missing most of his shorts on his left thigh, and with a tarmac tattoo up his entire left upper body, shoulder and arm, Zabriske pedals gamely on.  He reaches the line, unclips his scored shoe, lets his battered leg drop straight and stops the clock. 

They've shown us several repeats of the accident, but the moto cameras can't give us a decent angle on the cause.  It looks like there must have been a touch of wheels. In excrutiating detail, there's an actual skidmark behind Zabriske.  Sweat or tissue is unclear, but it just makes you cringe. 


Discovery's final time (and Lance's final Team Time Trial result) create a new record - 57.31 kph - somewhere in the neighborhood of 38 miles per hour.

Stage 4 - Results - 
1 - Discovery - 1:10:38
2 - Team CSC - +:02
3 - T-Mobile - +:34
4 - Liberty Seguros - +:52
5 - Phonak - +1:31

After the entire Discovery team takes the podium for the stage honors,  Lance Armstrong puts on his 67th Yellow Jersey.  

GC - 
MJ - Lance Armstrong - Discovery Channel - 9:59:12
2 - George Hincapie - Discovery - +:55
3 - Jens Voigt - CSC - +1:04
4 - Bobby Julich - CSC - +1:07
5 - Jose Luis Rubiera - Discovery - +1:14
6 - Yaroslav Popovych - Discovery - +1:16
7 - Alexandre Vinokourov - T-Mobile - +1:21
8 - Benjamin Noval - Discovery - +1:26
9 - David Zabriske - CSC - +1:26
10 - Ivan Basso - CSC - +1:26

Tomorrow's Stage - 
Stage 5 - Chambord - Montargis 183 km
While a few ripples in the roadway at midway may give a chance for a breakaway, this flat stage will give the sprinters a chance to shine again.




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