[Tour 2005]Stage 8 - Pforzheim - Gerardmer
race-report@cyclofiend.com
race-report@cyclofiend.com
Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:30:07 -0500
Stage 8 - Pforzheim - Gerardmer - 231 km
(Hope I didn't confuse anyone with either my typo for the upcoming stage or my sketchy
recollection of 8th grade German. Big thanks to subscriber Kurt who corrected my syntax! - "Nach Deutschland gehen wir!") Out of Germany on a long and tough stage. The day starts right off with four sharp Category 3 climbs, then pretends it's a sprinter's stage for 125 km, then climbs strongly to the 1139 meter Col de la Schlucht, before dropping steeply to the finish in Gerardmer. Not an actual climbing stage, but steep enough to have the more vertically inclined sharpening their talons.
In all the excitement of yesterday's sprint finish, I neglected to mention that a couple of
Domina Vacanze boys got tangled up together in the final meters. They both smacked to the
ground and got spun around pretty good, and it was touch and go as to whether they would
start throwing punches at one another. Of course, nothing is as forlorn as a couple of
cyclists duking it out...
No such schoolyard shenanigans today. Rain pounding down with lightning & thunder at the
finish and on the final climb of the course. As any high school coach would say, "A GREAT
DAY to work!" But, it is argued by some that high school coaches can be a trifle sadistic.
In a similar manner, the climbs exert their sadistic effect upon the flatland fast boys.
Already, we get word that Quick-Step rider Tom Boonen has slid off of the back and found a
few teamates to guard him. He'd been complaining of a sore back today, presumably from the
tangle at the finish line in stage 6.
183 riders start the day - FDJ.com's Christophe Mengin will have to wait for cyclocross
season, while Sergei Gontchar may have been one of the two Domina Vacanze riders I mentioned
earlier. Regardless, he kept hitting the snooze button and has not signed in.
Action started fast and furious into the initial climbs. Taking advantage of the early
sunshine, Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen decided he wanted to take over the climber's jersey
and hopped away, shadowed by CSC's Jens Voigt, big George Hincapie from Discovery and a
couple other riders. The members kept shifting, but Rasmussen kept hitting the climbing
points first, and after the first 4 climbs of the day, task completed, he peeled off and
soft-pedaled back to the bunch. That left George to snag the first sprint point, then they
decided it wasn't fun to make T-Mobile do all the work to catch them.
Credit Agricole's massive sprinter Thor Hushovd thumps out front to joint the bunch just
long enough to streak out and get the middle sprint points. Perhaps he senses the weakness
of Boonen, as with about 50 miles and a Cat 2 climb to the finish, their gap is 3:15 to the
front of the field and 5 minutes away from Tom Boonen and his helpers.
Other riders have dropped out - Illes Balears' Isaac Galvaz pulled over snuck into the team
car and Ag2R's Sylvain Calzati finally succumbwed to the tendonitis he has suffered with all
Tour.
With all the juggling of riders in and out of the break, it has finally settled down to the
following:
Salvatore Commesso - Lampre
Nicki Sorenson - CSC
Juan Antonia Flecha - Fassa Bortolo
Ronny Scholz - Gerolsteiner
Cedric Vasseur - Cofidis
Nicholas Jalabert - Phonak
Peter Weening - Rabobank
They've pushed up the gap to nearly 5 minutes, and Commesso scoops up the final sprint point
on the day. The break keeps edging out, now to nearly 6 minutes with 60 odd kilometers to
go. At the head of the chase, Liquigas riders lead the bunch, with the Discovery boys egging
them on. Maybe the Liquigas riders thing that the climb will suit Stefano Garzelli.
Though the rain was pounding at the finish, the sun seems to be following the riders - they
continue to go over dry roads, despite my earlier dire weather prognostications. The riders
continue to stretch the bunch out as they gain a tailwind. CSC rider David Zabriske has
been stretching off the back of the bunch to as much as 30 seconds. Hopefully, he will be
able to maintain contact through until Monday's rest day.
Despite the pending climb, this route will also tend to favor someone who can actually
descend - once the riders peak out at 1139 meter crest of the 17 km climb, there's an almost
equal amount of downhill.
While the bunch plugs onward, the camera finds a flock of white storks strewn about a small
field near the Black Forest, who have migrated from the African continent to focus on family
pursuits.
The gap has continued to fall, with Illes Balears squad tucking in to position Alejandro
Valverde for the upswing. 4:37 with 46 km to go. The peleton zips along some 14 kph faster
than the break.
Up at the front Flecha is trying to keep the pace high, hoping to make the climb before the
catch. It will be interesting to see who makes the moves on the incline. But the break does
not look too coordinated in their rotation. 4 minutes even.
Though Phil and Paul have not mentioned it, the lead bunch does seem to be gaining altitude.
Riders have begun hiking up out of the saddle, though no one has tripped their front
derailleur over to the small chainring yet - and frankly on this climb, they may not.
Well, I guess I was getting all antsy - the lead group still has about 3 km to go before
they are on the climb proper. They've been going for about 4 hours, 15 minutes today, and
have finally made their way to the official climb, about three minutes ahead of the rest of
the riders. The peleton streaks through the narrow and enourmously crowded strets of
Munster. Meanwhile, the sunlight has officially reached the finish line, meaning that the
roadways should be dry for descent to the line.
As soon as the roadway headed up, Weening from Rabobank punches out to a lead, cleanly
gapping Jalabert, Vasseur and Scholz, while in between Commesso, Flecha and Sorensen work to
close down the distance.
Wreckage immediately appears at the end of the bunch, the expected group of sprinters start
to drop back, but it also Liberty Seguros' Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano and Fabian Cancellara
from Fasso Bortolo. Illes Balears continues to punish the weak, guilty and innocent as they
set a hard pace at the front of the chase. The fast tempo climbing has winnowed down the
bunch. Levi Leipheimer has had to chase back on for some reason - probably mechanical as he
seems to be riding well within himself among the team cars.
Up front the lanky Weening grits his way along at the head of events. Commesso and Flecha
trade pulls as Sorensen focuses on one or the other's rear wheel. They are not gaining time
on the Rabobank rider.
Vasseur gets scooped up by the hard climbing main group. Suddenly Vinokourov appears at the
front of the bunch and accellerates, gaining a 5 yard gap. Vino's accelleration gets
answered by immediately by Paolo Salvadelli, tailed by Lance Armstrong. Directly behind him
big Jan Ullrich marks him solidly.
Christophe Moreau from Credit Agricole slides off the front, with little attention paid to
him
Now Alejandro Valverde kicks out in front to a gap, but Armstrong won't go until Vinokourov
moves again. Which the Khazakstani rider immediately does.
Everyone comes together. Armstrong is riding cooly with no apparent help from any teammates.
But a quick flash of pink and a T-Mobile rider has moved up the roadway - this time none
other than the up-until-now-discounted Andreas Kloden. He moves cleanly away from the bunch,
not chased by Armstrong. Kloden is more than 2 and half minutes behind on GC.
Others are not so calm, with CSC's Ivan Basso following him up the roadway. Others swarm
around Armstrong, who tucks in on Jan's hip and moves only when the big German moves up.
The Armstrong bunch has swelled to about 30 riders, as everyone uses their new found
climbing legs to reconvene.
Kloden breezes up the roadway, jersey open to the waist and spinning his long legs to close
the gap to Weening. The first time Tour rider finds new edges of pain as he tries to make
the summit. Suddenly Kloden is there, ousprints him to the KoM point. Kloden takes the big
points on the day, and may have snatched the climber's jersey right off the virtual back of
Rassmussen.
The chasing group hammer over the crest only 15 seconds behind. Rassmussen nabs 8 points at
the summit which lets him hold onto the Polka Dot Jersey
Now going downhill, CSC riders Bobby Julich and Cadel Evans work together to try and close
the gap. But after almost clipping tires, they calm down a touch and are reabsorbed by the
bunch.
Up front Kloden and Weening are actually taking pulls and moving across every inch of the
roadway, spinning gears bigger than any you and I will ever turn over. Behind them, Illes
Balears regains the front of the chase with only 5 km to go, bringing the gap down to 8
seconds.
Kloden and Weening take sharp pulls and work well together as the bigger group just can't
convince themselves who ought to chase the duo. CSC rider Jens Voigt tests the waters, but
immediately gets chased down by the others.
Now only 2 km to go. There's open roadway behind them, and gap has suddenly opened out to 22
seconds.
The duo have moved under the red kite at 1 kilometer to go - Weening sits right on Kloden's
wheel like a seasoned pursuit rider. It's a slightly uphill finish. Kloden opens up from
the front. Weening kicks up on his right hand side. edges up even and they cross the line
in a dead heat. A true photo finish!
The Armstrong group spreads out and a multitude of efforts unfold. Though Vinokourov would
love to nab the time bonus for third place, his effort gets swamped by 10 other riders.
Among the expected challengers to the podium, Chris Horner of Saunier Duval, who shows his
form to be quite solid.
Other broken bunches of riders roll over the line, aghast at how fast the serious contenders
have moved away on such an early climb. George Hincapie moved into one of the following
groups, and will slide down the standings slightly.
The results finally come down from the judges - 24 year old Pieter Weening of Rabobank takes
the stage by what can only be described as a tread-of-the-tire length!
Stage 8 -
1 - Pieter Weening - Rabobank - 5:03:54
2 - Andreas Kloden - T-Mobile - s.t.
3 - Alejandro Valverde - Illes Balears - +:27
4 - Kim Kirchen - Fasso Bortolo - s.t.
5 - Jens Voigt - CSC - s.t.
GC -
MJ - Lance Armstrong - Discovery - 26:06:17
2 - Jens Voigt - CSC - +1:00
3 - Alexandre Vinokourov - T-Mobile - +1:02
4 - Bobby Julich - CSC - +1:07
5 - Ivan Basso - CSC - +1:26
Stage 9 - Gerardmer - Mulhouse - 171km
This would be a tough one day stage, even if there weren't another dozen stages to go.
Mountain. Mountain. Mountain. Steep Descent. Long climb to a steeper mountain followed by a
serious descent. Mountain. Now, a real climb - the Cat 1 Le Ballon d'Alsace at an average
of nearly 7%. After the sharp descent, it's a steady descent to the finish. If we don't see
blood in the gutters, we'll at least see welts on a lot of riders' shins. On Monday, they
will get to lick their wounds with the first rest day.
--
Please visit Cyclofiend.com to see what's new -
Current Classics Bicycle Photo Gallery - http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc
Cyclocross Bicycle Photo Gallery - http://www.cyclofiend.com/cx
Single Speed Bicycle Photo Gallery - http://www.cyclofiend.com/ssg
Add your bicycle to the Galleries!
http://www.cyclofiend.com/guidelines
----------------------------------------------
You are receiving this email from the Tour-Junkie at Cyclofiend. http://www.cyclofiend.com
If you are a new subscriber and want to see earlier reports, they are archived here:
http://lists.cyclofiend.com/pipermail/race-report/2005-July/thread.html
To subscribe, unsubscribe or to change any of your information, please visit the
"Race-Report" info page:
http://lists.cyclofiend.com/mailman/listinfo/race-report
All rights reserved - copyright by Jim Edgar 2005
Permission granted to circulate this publication via manual forwarding by email to friends,
providing that the text is forwarded in its entirety and no fees are charged.
Questions or comments can be sent to this email address, or to editor@cyclofiend.com