Tour de France: Stage 14 Live Thread (Sunday, July 16, 2006)

VeloNews.com ^ | July 16, 2006 | VeloNews.com

[nutmeg]

Stage 14: Montélimar to Gap - 180.5km

Course: With a rest day coming up in Gap, followed by the Alps, this gives the lesser known riders one of their last chances of glory. The intricate 180.5km stage through hilly terrain north of Mont Ventoux offers two Cat. 3 climbs in the first half and two Cat. 2s in the second half. The narrow back roads and constant ups-and-downs will make it a hard stage for everyone and encourage breakaways. The last of the climbs, the Sentinelle, is less than 10km from the finish and offers a great chance for a solo rider to stay clear of a small breakaway group.

History: Gap has seen the finish of 18 stages of the Tour, the latest being in 2003 when Vinokourov scored a solo win after breaking clear on the final climb and descent. Gap is also where Joseba Beloki suffered his horrendous crash and Armstrong had his "cyclo-cross" adventure. On a 1991 stage, Greg LeMond tried to take a morale-boosting win in a Tour he was losing to Miguel Induráin, but was outsmarted in the two-man sprint by Italian Marco Lietti.

Favorites: This is another unpredictable stage that favors long-distance breakaways that don't contain GC contenders. However, those who have lost a chance at the podium in the Pyrénées could be involved - maybe that will be someone like Christophe Moreau (AG2R). Otherwise, look for an enterprising rider like David Moncoutié (Cofidis) or Axel Merckx (Phonak) to succeed with a late solo move.

Graphics by CyclingNews.com

[luv2ski]

I'm going to go way out on a limb here and predict that Tuesday there's going to be a feeding frenzy attacking Landis by T-Mobile, CSC, AG2R, Agritubel and Rabobank. There's blood in the water!

[Cecily]

What you said. Those guys are great, and the scenery is gorgeous.

[nutmeg]

Wow, interesting comments from Bob Roll. We'll soon see how it all shakes out...

[nutmeg]

I hope Lance is making that phone call tomorrow!!!

I hope so, too. Actually, isn't Lance supposed to arrive in France on Monday (today)?

For some reason, I expected Lance to be more involved with either the Discovery team or with American riders in general - in France - during TDF 2006...?

[nutmeg]

Stage 14 results, stats, injury reports, etc:

CyclingNews.com

Sorry, I wasn't able to post my usual link to VeloNews "Stage Stats". The VeloNews.com site seems to be down right now...

Stage 14 photos:

The pack rides down the Perty pass during the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar and Gap, southern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Overall leader Oscar Pereiro Sio, foreground, Xabier Zandio of Spain, left, Floyd Landis of the US, rear left, and Carlos Sastre of Spain, right, ride through Taulignan, southern France, during the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar, southern France, and Gap, southeastern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Stage winner Pierrick Fedrigo of France, right, second placed Salvatore Comesso of Italy, center, and Mario Aerts of Belgium climb Sentinelle pass in the last kilometers of the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar, southern France, and Gap, southeastern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain retains the overall leader's yellow jersey. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Stage winner Pierrick Fedrigo of France, left, and Salvatore Comesso of Italy who finished second, climb Sentinelle pass in the last kilometers of the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar, southern France, and Gap, southeastern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain retains the overall leader's yellow jersey. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Pierrick Fedrigo of France reacts on the podium after winning the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar, southern France, and Gap, southeastern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Overall leader Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain waves from the podium after the 14th stage of the 93rd Tour de France cycling race between Montelimar, southern France, and Gap, southeastern France, Sunday, July 16, 2006. Pierrick Fedrigo of France won the stage. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

[nutmeg]

Tour de France ping!

Photos of Stage 14, links to results, etc. posted in #87

Monday, July 17th is a rest day, but OLN is running a Tour Recap Special in the evening during primetime: OLN Tour de France 2006 TV Schedule

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2006 list.

[grey_whiskers]

Hey, luv, could you do a favor for us purely recreational cyclist types?

I don't understand how a team must "ride till they pass out" in order to defend one of its members who has the yellow jersey...

I thought the maillot jaune was based on each individual's time; so I am having difficulty following this. How would it help Landis if his team keeps up with another team on a breakaway, when they all are staying ahead of Landis?

Or is it that they pull "in the front of the line" while Landis rides behind them, keeping his time better and his legs moderately fresh?

Would you be willing to explain in more detail, please?

Cheers!

[nutmeg]

photo by: Jason Sumner

I haven't been able to find Manbearpig yet, but I think I just found Mancowpig at Tour de France 2006...

Yeesh... now I'm gonna have nightmares...

[leilani]

if my aunt had wheels, she would be a car

Goodness me! I didn't even know that Bob Roll was posting a journal. I presume he's writing it stream-of-consciousness style, but boy, it kinda comes out suspiciously like a Babelfish translation of the Ukrainian transcript of those indecipherable hand gestures of his, doesn't it? Love him dearly, but I agree, it just ain't the TdF unless Phil is calling it live. Actually, Paul's no slouch either, especially when one of the riders starts bonking or something and he goes off into one of his wild metaphorical riffs: "He's pumping those pistons he calls legs, but there's nothing left for him in the engine room!".

Have you seen that the Daily Peloton has been leading off their coverage this year with a different one of Phil's "found poems" excerpted from that book "Dancing on the Pedals: The Found Poetry of Phil Liggett"every day? (Just in case you hadn't heard of it, this is where some guy has selected snippets of Phil's actual past cycling coverage patter -"He's a cat amongst the pigeons today" - and put them into haiku & other modern-style poetic form on the page.) This was the one for Stage 14:

BEAST

Vicious

is the word.

Savage

is the climb.

(originally uttered during Stage 12, 2000)

If they ever do something like that for Bob, it'll probably have to be in illustrated form, something on the order of Dancing in His Gloves: The Hidden Linguistic Significance of the Eccentric Manual Gesticulations of Bob Roll maybe? LOL.

[PeteB570]

Each "group" is given the same time.

Look at the finish times and each group will have the same time.

The main group could be strung out for 500 meters but so long as there is no break in the line they would all get the same time.

Thats why the "who is in the breakaway" is so important. If 10 guys get away who are 20-30 minutes down on GC time there is no good reason for the leaders team to drag the rest of the peleton up to catch them.

[leilani]

the scenery is gorgeous. I don't know if the main reason I can't seem to wait for them to get to the alps every year (well,ok,it is the most exciting part of the race itself) is that I can be sitting in the hottest part of the country on the hottest day of the year, turn on the tube, and bingo! I'm transported to Mont Blanc or wherever without having to shell out a dime for the plane ticket. I'll be darned if the air in my living room doesn't actually turn crisper and cooler the minute those mountains come into focus.

[EveningStar]

Good grief! :)

[RichardW]

"I thought the maillot jaune was based on each individual's time; so I am having difficulty following this. How would it help Landis if his team keeps up with another team on a breakaway, when they all are staying ahead of Landis?"

Because he is only expending about 70% of the effort when in a group. Sometimes they are just coasting. Like getting behind a tractor trailer on the highway or like the Nextel guys do. They draft which is why it is important for the leading rider to be protected and assisted by his domestiques.

That's how these pelotons can pull back a breakaway group even when they are up to 10 minutes ahead. An stage 13 they didn't even try because it was Landis's decision to give up the yellow jersey so they wouldn't have to do all the grunt work.