[Tour 2005]Stage 6 - Troyes - Nancy

[race-report@cyclofiend.com]

Stage 6 - 
Troyes - Nancy - 220 km
Nothing flat today.  No huge climbs, but a continually changing topography could let a determined break get out of view and out of mind.  There's actually four Cat4 climbs on the day as well, so an energetic rider with a well-timed attack could propel themselves to the finish alone. The town of Nancy sits at the end of a climb, so a rider with a bit of craftiness might find themselves riding triumphantly into town.

Moving away from the Loire valley today, and the patient spectators at the finish may be slightly happy that they packed the umbrella.  A little suggestion of rain begins in Nancy, while the riders have been listening to that repeated suggestion for most of the day, covering wet roads  under thick grey skies. 

Today is Bob Roll's birthday.  Hope my card got there in time. 

A break of 5 moved out and away today - 
122 - Stephane Auge - Cofidis 
178 - Christophe Mengin - FDJ.com 
054 - Karsten Kroon - Rabobank 
109 - Jan Kirispuu -  Credit Agricole
116 - Mauro Gerosa - Liquigas-Bianchi

The break partners have gained some decent time clear after a small flurry of crashes rippled through the bunch early on.  Seemingly little damage to any riders, but for some reason the bunch seemed to have the dropsies and tangle-ups.  Damp roads couldn't help of course, but with the increase of speed toward the break the riders seem to be back on the ball under less desireable weather conditions. After letting the break push out toward 9 minute gap, the Lotto and Quick-Step riders get the direction to close things down. A slight tailwind favors the riders, but the wet roads do not.

The riders squeeze another minute out of the break, now under 7 minutes on this dreary day. They seem a bit cranky today, wanting to get the day over and head back to the team busses, and as such have stretched things out over the wet black tarmac. The riders deal with today's sloppy conditions at just over 30 mph average speed. 

Kroon has managed to take the sprint points so far, though no one seems too interested in Another half a minute disappears with 86 km to go. 

Fassa Bortolo's Tour neophyte Claudio Corioni has opted for a dry ride in the team car, retiring from the stage and the race.  He is only the second rider to drop out this year.

The average speed of this year's Tour is now up to 48.2 km per hour.  Today's efforts are helping that along, with the day's speed half a km per hour faster, as they reduce the break's gap down to 5 minutes.

With 58 km to go, the rains seem to have increased while the gap has decreased to 4:30.

Karsten Kroon follows the strategic team directives as Cofidis' Auge nips away to try to get a KoM points sprint. The Rabobank rider matches his efforts and then accerates past his wet wheels to take first.  With Auge taking 2nd place points, he ties Kroon. However, since Kroon has won the most recent challenge, he wears the virtual Polka-Dot jersey, taking over for his teammate Erik Dekker. Always better to pass a jersey to a teammate's shoulders.

40 km to go and a gap of 3:57 - almost a perfect gap to close if you use the standard "1 minute per 10 kilometers"...  But, this isn't a flat finish, and if the sprinters' teams continue to get their chamoises in a bunch, that extra buffer could disappear fairly quickly.

My dog, who had awakened excitedly with me at 5:15 then slumped into comfortable snoring slumber, has begun agitating for breakfast. A quick jaunt outside and a bowl of fine food keeps her happy and she sprawls back out on her bed.

The breakaway picks its way through the slippery and treacherous streets of Dommartin-les-Toul, the last sprint point on the day.  A few poorly-marked traffic islands will threaten the big bunch, especially if they go through with some degree of speed.  Hopefully, they can awaken whichever gendarmes are supposed to be posted there and get them waving the yellow safety flags...

Credit Agricole's Sebastian Joly seems to be adrift among the team cars, dropping back through them in a way which says that maybe calories in were a bit less than efforts exerted.  The moto camera zips up to find his teammate Laszlo Bodrogi between a few bumpers as well.  Bad pasta for the Credit Agricolians this morning?

25km to go with a 1:48 gap to the break. The weather doesn't look as bad  right now, though no one would argue that it's a beautiful day. The five riders still seem commited to the break.

Credit Agricole's sprinter Thor Hushovd picks a bad time to get a front flat, as the Lotto and Quick-Step boys have cranked up the speed a bit.  But, his mechanic hops out of the car well before it stops and has him changed almost before the big rider's bike comes to rest.

Sylvain Chavanel of Cofids finds the same set of three penny nails and takes a fast wheel change.  The chase is on in earnest, and he will seriously struggle to regain the tail of the peleton now. 

The break gap dwindles as the peleton begins to unlimber their climbing legs.  Auge and Kroon dink around a bit and fall away from the other three - although a sprinter, Jan Kirsipuu leads the charge up to the summit.  As his sprinter's ballast begins to take its toll, Christophe Mengin attacks on what are familiar roads for him.  The local rider may have timed this well, as the break disintegrates and spreads out on the incline.  Kroon and Auge get swallowed by the hard-charging bunch.

The rain must have seeped into the legs of Thomas Voeckler as he drifts away from the bunch.

Now team CSC heads up to the front, joined by the members of the Discovery squad.  These two powerhouse teams take over the pacemaking, putting a big smack into the strung out riders.  Several gaps have crept into the bunch, though it's tough to see whether any serious competitors have been sawn off

Mengin remains fully commited as Kirsipuu and Gerosa finally admit defeat.  Under the 10 km banner with a fair amount of rolling topography, the FDJ rider began the break today and he may be the last one caught.

Dario Cioni from Liquigas fires away from the bunch.  The former elite mountain biker has moved hard and gained a gap. Aided by the slight downhill, Cioni moves at over 72 km/hr.  However, Cioni gets a bit dainty through a hard left hand corner and loses significant momentum, putting him directly iin the sights ofthe peleton. Up ahead, Mengin relies upon his national champion cyclocross skills to howl through very sketchy cornering conditions.

4 kilometers to go and the aerial view makes the 15 second gap look like a possibility.  The urban turns favor this lone rider, though the 

Vinokourov fires away from the bunch, which causes a serious reaction.  He's gapped the bunch and closes in on Mengin.  Another rider has found the Khazakstani's wheel - it's a Fassa Bortolo rider, but things are happening too fast to see who. 

A Massive pileup on a left hand turn!  Mengin skids out and rings the metal barriers like chimes.  Vinokourov somehow avoids him, but loses most of his momentum.   But, everyone else seems to pile into the prone rider and bikes and bodies clatter and scatter.  

Vino keeps hammering to chase down the Fassa Bortolo rider who scooted past the falling Mengin, but runs out of roadway, letting Lorenzo Bernucci of Fassa Bortolo win the stage.

The remainder of the bunch limps over the line, all the sprinters except for Thor Hushovd getting caught behind the melee. 

Stage 6 - 
Lorenzo Bernucci - Fassa Bortolo
Robert Forster - Gerolsteiner - +:06
Angelo Furlan - Domino Vacanze - +:06
Thor Hushovd - Credit Agricole - +:06


Stage 7 - 
Luneville - Karlsruhe - 228 km
A very non-French sounding city name as the destination on this day. After encountering the Cat3 Col du Hantz, the riders string together all the flat roads  in the Rhine Valley of Germany. This is probably the final day for the sprinters' teams to show off for a bit. Saturday's stage will throw in a Cat2 climb as the riders move back into France and finish by headed up into the Vosges mountains. Sunday's topography gets downright sharp. Though the final 50 km are mostly downhill, riders will be climbing fairly seriously, after encontering 3 quick Cat3 climbs, the course heads up Le Grand Ballon (Cat2 - 21km at 3.6%)and then Le Ballon d'Alsace (Cat1 - 9.1km at 6.8%). Legs will scream with the change of demand.

Updates Update - 
The reports for the next few days may be lacking in timliness. I've got some commitments for the next few days and may not have a reliable connection to upload the reports.  Things should be back to normal by Monday.  
 
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