[Tour 2005]Stage 12 - Briancon - Digne-les-Bains

[race-report@cyclofiend.com]

Stage 12
Briancon - Digne-les-Bains 187 km
Bastille Day Stages are often the playground of French riders and teams.
Such could be the case on this "ripply" stage which does include five
ategorized climbs. The topography will tend to prompt an aggressive
stage, with short sharp climbs interspersed with a couple early sprint
points. The day after will be a fairly flat, and as such this may be the
prime moment to gain television time or an escape from the peleton.

Bands play the Marseilles and Phonak finds out exactly how difficult it
is to get their hands on a French mechanic on this Most National French
Holiday when one of their team cars fails. Team members end up hoisting
down their bikes from the roof rack and riding them to the start.

I'm not sure that it got mentioned, but Illes Balears rider Alejandro
Valverde pulled on the White Jersey of the best placed young rider white
jersey after his mountaintop efforts of the other day.

Another rider in a new jersey is Thor Hushovd from Credit Agricole.
Actually, he is not yet wearing it, but the he is the new owner of the
Green Sprint Points Jersey, which slid over to his shoulders when
Quick-Step's Tom Boonen did not sign in for the day's stage.

In a reasonably startling development, Discovery rider Manuel Beltran
abandoned after a hard solo crash. This is the first time that Discovery
has lost a rider since Christian Vandevelde, who got banged up during a
crash in the rainy Team Time Trial during the 2000 Tour. One of the keys
to Discovery/USPS's success has been the ability to keep all of their
team members healthy and intact.

On the race course today, 13 riders have formed into a break at around
the 65 km mark and have stretched their advantage to 3 minutes.

Breakaway -
Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis
Thor Hushovd - Credit Agricole
Giovanni Lombardi - CSC
Sandy Casar - FDJ.com
Angel Vicioso - Liberty Seguros
Massimo Giunti - Fassa Bortolo
Franco Pellizotti - Liquigas
Axel Merckx - Lotto
Juan Garate - Saunier Duval
Jose Luis Arrieta - Illes Balears
David Moncoutie - Cofidis
Stephan Schreck - T-Mobile
Patrice Halgand - Credit Agricole

The average speed of the Tour has dropped down to 43.9 kph after the
first couple hours of racing today. As there are no riders who are in
the hunt for the overall, no strong efforts to chase the group occur.

Nicolas Fritsch from Saunier Duval has found the undulations of today's
stage not to his liking, pulled up and relinquished his numbers.

It was reported last evening had CSC's Jens Voigt finished outside the
time limit yesterday, along with Kevin Hulsmans of Quick-Step.
Certainly, the popular German rider has paid dearly for the efforts to
gain the Yellow Jersey.

Enough French teams are represented up the roadway that this could
remain a serious breakaway. Almost as soon that sentance gets written,
Lotto riders mass at the front, despite the presence of his teammate
Merckx in the breakaway. It would seem that Robbie McEwen thinks he
feels good enough to be in the mix at the finish, especially since the
two sprinters who lie ahead of him in the Green Jersey competition have
gone up the roadway. They get little help from the sun-lethargic bunch,
and even shoot a few looks at one another as they tap out a higher cadence.

Still the break edges out to 4:43 on the climb of the Col du Labouret

Robbie Hunter from Phonak has retired from the race today. Despite high
hopes, the South African rider never seemed to find his rhythm in this
year's Tour.

Sandy Casar has decided to kick up his heels a bit, not happy with the
dynamics of the breakaway. He decides that if he can get away from
O'Grady and Hushovd and they get caught, there won't be an impetus for
the big bunch to chase him down. With a solid 50 miles left to go, he'd
be best served if another rider could jump up to assist, but no one
seems too interested in bridging the gap. Casar continues up the roadway
and tucks into position for a long haul....or not, as he shows up back
in the break group a few minutes later.

Lotto continues to push the chase, Discovery positioned behind them and
the Rabobank team masses just behind their blue jerseys, shielded their
rider Michael Rasmussen. The gap seems to be holding at 4:15, despite
the Lotto efforts.

Word comes through that Angelo Furlan of Domina Vacanze has abandoned.

The breakaway has slipped into the streets of Digne-les-Bains. They will
then head out on a large hilly loop that will bring them back to the
finish about 35 miles later.

David Moncoutie has made a strong move on the Category 2 Col du Corobin
climb. This clips off Hushovd, and even puts O'Grady in a spot of
bother. He pairs up with the other sprinter, Giovanni Lombardi and they
try to chew up the climb together. Merckx hammers out the pace for the
immediate chase group, shadowed by Halgand. Moncoutie sets a nice pace
past the 5 km to the summit marker. At the false flat on the climb, he's
managed to sneak away by 30 seconds or so.

My dog also tests the waters this morning, trying to see if she can talk
me into a slightly early feeding. However a good ear skritch and a soft
pillow on the couch put her back into snoring mode.

The peleton has fallen away to a 6 minute deficit. Cofidis has a nice
combination of riders in this move, despite O'Grady's slinking off the
back on the climb. If the gang reforms and remains intact at the finish,
it will play to the Australian sprinter's strengths. But, Moncoutie's
move on this twisting and undulating roadway does have the momentum to
perhaps stay away. He hammers through the rising switchbacks and howling
French crowds, inspired to gain as much time as possible.

Schreck leaves behind his climbing partner Hushovd and accellerates up
to the O'Grady/Lombardi pair. Up ahead, Merckx has strongly driven the
pace uphill to remain in touch with the move, putting the hurt on all
the other riders who still hope to win the stage.

Moncoutie begins to negotiate the narrow and in places uneven roadway of
the descent. Hushovd hurtles down toward O'Grady's little combo, using
all that gravity will give him. He rejoins them to form a sprinter's
section, but they are still a half minute behind the screamingly fast
descent led by Merckx.

A few riders begin drifting off the tail of the peleton as they follow
upwards. The main bunch have fallen back to 7 minutes after Lotto shut
down their efforts. Discovery keeps things in hand, but seem more to be
enjoying the warmer weather that has greeted them today. It could not be
confused with a serious chase.

Moncoutie has maintained a serious effort however, as he zips under the
20 km to go banner. He holds a gap of 25 seconds on what has suddenly
become a long, straight main highway. The chasers rotate quickly through
a 7 man paceline.

Off the back of the bunch, Liberty Seguros' Roberto Heras finds another
way to lose some time, refitting a rear wheel which seems to be
misbehaving for one reason or another. After a bit of mechanical dinking
around, he remounts while a pacing teammate idles slightly ahead of him
to drag him back up.

Moncoutie keeps finding new inspiration while the chasers fall away to
30 seconds. The group keeps mucking around, with unhelpful attacks and
poor rotations - egos and tactics getting in the way. The only rider who
still wants to catch the fleeing Frenchman is Merckx, who takes strong
pulls on the wide descent but cannot animate the rest of the bunch. They
have not reduced the gap of 28 seconds with 4 km to go.

Now 2 km to go, and Moncoutie's lips move in some silent prayer of
inspiration. The riders in the chase group must be using much louder
words at one another as they spread across the roadway with yards of
room between one another.

Moncoutie finally takes a final look over his shoulder to make sure no
one has snuck in under the radar. He rolls up near the barrier and it
finally strikes home that he has made the apprpriate move - he smiles
broadly and punctuates his Bastille Day victory with a double two-fisted
pump, and holds his belly as though this win has warmed his soul.

The sprinters gang heads for the line, Schreck moving way out long to
see if he can sneak away, then pulls up hard when he reaizes that 1
kilometer is a long sprint. Then it becomes Lombardi at the front,
O'grady right behind him and Hushovd marking the Aussie. Lombardi pulls
up and off - perhaps too many years of running the leadout - and O'Grady
drives hard for the line, but the big Norwegian smoothly accellerates
out of his slipstream and naps it at the line. He will be the first
rider from Norway ever to hold the Green Points Jersey.

The other riders are still out on the course. Near the 5 km to go
banner, Thierry Marachal from Cofidis makes a mild move which reminds
everone that there is a race on. With another kilometer under their
wheels, the big bunch is a good six and a half minutes in arrears.
Robbie McEwen again calls his Lotto boys to the front, this time with a
clear goal. Without Boonen in the race, the sprint points which remain
coiuld make a difference by the time everyone reaches Paris.

They circumnavigate a large roundabout, and pipe into the final
kilometer. McEwen has notched into fifth place, paying extreme attention
to other riders nudging elbows. His teammate, former US Champion Freddy
Rodriguez ramps it up to hyperdrive suddenly and the only rider who can
accellerate beyond his speed is McEwen, who handly takes the bunch
sprint for 14th place.

The three French riders in the breakaway ended up in the top four places
on the stage. The tactical dueling at the end let Moncoutie edge out to
almost a full minute.

Despite the early reports that Beltran retired with a sore knee, Johan
Bruyneel explains that he had actually landed hard on his noggin.
Sitting dazed on the roadway for a while, Beltran had no power and after
a few minutes riding little recollection of the fact he had crashed.
Concerned for the rider's well-being, the Race Doctor conferred with
Bruyneel and they pulled his numbers and sent him to the hospital in
Gap. Reportedly, he is OK, but will remain under observation overnight.

Both Armstrong and Bryuneel are concerned with the loss of the gifted
climber, and the load will shift to the other members of the Discovery
squad.

Stage 12 Results -
1 - David Moncoutie - Cofidis - 4:20:06
2 - Sandy Casar - FDJ.com - +:57
3 - Angel Vicioso - Liberty Seguros - s.t.
4 - Patrice Halgand - Credit Agricole - s.t.
5 - Manuel Arrietta - Illes Balears - s.t.
6 - Franco Pellizotti - Liquigas - s.t.
7 - Axel Merckx - Lotto - s.t.
8 - Juan Garate - Saunier Duval - s.t.
9 - Thor Hushovd - Credit Agricole - +3:15
10 - Stuart O'Grady - Cofidis - s.t.

GC - After 12 Stages
Armstrong puts on his 74th Yellow Jersey of his career. If he can hold
the jersey for 5 days, he will move ahead of Bernard Hinaut's mark.
MJ - Lance Armstrong - 46:30:36
2 - Michael Rasmussen - +:38
3 - Christophe Moreau - +2:34
4 - Ivan Basso - CSC - +2:40
5 - Alejandro Valverde - Illes Baleares - +:3:16
6 - Santiago Botero - Phonak - +3:47
7 - Levi Leipheimer - Gerolstiener - +3:58
8 - Francisco Mancebo - Illes Baleares - +4:00
9 - Jan Ullrich - T-Mobile - +4:02
10 - Andreas Kloden - T-Mobile - +4:16

Thor Hushovd goes into the record book with his fancy Green Points
Jersey. The big Norwegian rider beams with confidence in this hard-
fought jersey.

Richard Virenque, who holds the Tour Record of 7 KoM Jerseys presents
Michael Rasmussen his daily dots. Virenque, now retired from racing,
look like he's allowed himself a dessert or two since hanging up his cleats.

Alejandro Valverde maintains his White Best Young Rider Jersey again
today. A strong climber, look for him to animate things this weekend.

Tomorrow's Stage - Stage 13 - Miramas - Montpellier 173 km
After a short little climb at the 26 km mark, wind and traffic islands
will be the only imepediments. Flat, flat and more flat should play to
the teams of the sprinters.














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