by Graham Watson
It was a happy Bastille Day for the housewives' favorite (Richard Virenque).
Posted on 07/14/2004 10:31:37 PM PDT by nutmeg
Virenque and Voeckler tops at Tour on Bastille Day
Merckx says former teammate broke his word
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 14, 2004
Richard Virenque gave French cycling fans all they could have dreamed for to mark their national holiday, Bastille Day, by winning the 237km stage 10 from Limoges to Saint Flour. The win moved him up to fourth place overall and gave him the lead in the King of the Mountains competition -- his primary goal at this year's Tour de France.
Furthermore, on this Bastille Day, French could also celebrate another day with a Frenchman in the yellow jersey, as young Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere) finished among the overall favorites, more than five minutes behind the day's lone victor, preserving his hold on the overall lead.
The art of the deal
While Virenque's seventh career stage victory in the Tour won over hordes of his countrymen lining the hilly course through the Massif Central, Virenque created a virtual war with Belgium.
By allegedly breaking an agreement with his Belgian breakaway companion Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) three-fourths of the way into their 202km attack, Virenque (Quick Step) ensured that he would become public enemy No. 1 in France's neighbor to the north.
As thousands of French fans cheered Virenque after the finish, Merckx was soon dropping his bombshells of accusation.
Judging by the Belgian media's response to Merckx's claim, Virenque could feel grateful that Belgium -- where this year's Tour began -- is now behind the peloton's wheels now, rather than ahead.
According to Merckx, when the pair broke free of the pack after 35km, they immediately spoke and agreed to ride for each other's specific goal.
On a course of nine climbs, Merckx agreed to help Virenque amass points for the polka-dot jersey he aims to win for a record seventh time. In return, Virenque later admitted that he had agreed to repay Merckx by letting him win the stage.
Merckx accused Virenque of reneging on the deal by attacking him on the major climb of the day, the Cat. 1 Puy Mary, whose summit came at 173.5km.
"On the Puy Mary, I was going at my own tempo," said Merckx. "When he accelerated I thought he would wait for me because we had an agreement. But no... he went off. He didn't respect his word. If I had have known he was going to do that I would have taken points from him on the climbs."
"Maybe their national day got the better of him," Merckx said. "Yes, I am bitter and I am disappointed. I have respect for the rider, but my respect for the man has strongly diminished."
Virenque, one of the principal figures of the 1998 Festina drugs scandal, which finally resulted in him serving a seven-month suspension that saw him miss the 2001 Tour, did not deny the two had formed a pact.
We are not teammates
He even said he understood why Merckx was upset and confirmed the plan was to let Merckx win the stage had they stayed away to the finish.
But Virenque justified the final outcome by saying: "It was not me who attacked, he was dropped."
Virenque, who was first over the top of every climb and bagged a total of 68 points. He rocketed up from 10th with 5 points to first with 73.
Had Merckx challenged Virenque in the climbs and finished with the Frenchman, he could well have taken the polka-dot jersey himself as he gave away nine points to the Quick Step man before being dropped. All told Merckx tallied 57 points on the day.
Virenque said he had no choice but to leave Merckx like he did.
"I needed points and my team asked me to ride on," said Virenque. "If we had finished together I would not have sprinted. I can understand that he is upset; but then, we are not teammates."
Not that France will care. They still can't get enough of a man whose name was tainted in every other country around the world for being at the center of the Festina affair.
A bad day in green
Despite all the local euphoria over Virenque's win, the day was for the most part a disappointing one, considering the predictions of carnage in the overall classification.
While Virenque and Merckx forged a maximum lead of 10:54 at 154km, there was hardly a murmur of action in the peloton.
In beautiful sunny but relatively brisk conditions and with a handy tail wind, it was as if their procession through rolling farmland littered with cattle was aimed at waking up France from its pre-Bastille Day celebrations the night before than setting the race alight.
It was not until after the fifth of nine climbs - the Col de Chalvignac at 126km - that some in the field started to feel the effects of the upward rise: one of them being the wearer of the sprinters' green jersey, Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo).
Suffering from tendonitis in the left knee from his stage 6 crash, McEwen found himself in a small group with Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Swede Magnus Backstedt (Alessio) and later finished with five other riders at 25:18.
With 195 points, McEwen still kept the green jersey another day. But his lead came under siege from a new front: that being Germany's Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), whose third place on the stage saw the former six-time green jersey champion move up from fourth at 170 points to second at 185.
The race up front was of little interest to McEwen. As he rode on to what he later called his "my worst ever day in the Tour," Virenque pedaled closer and closer to his victory -- and alleged betrayal of Merckx on the Col du Pas de Peyrol, the route up the extinct volcano, the Puy Mary.
Mayo in trouble again
At the summit of the 5.5km climb, Virenque's lead was about a minute on Merckx, who was followed at nine minutes by a strung-out peloton including Lance Armstrong and all but one of the overall favorites - Iban Mayo.
The apparently trouble-prone Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) twice stopped on the climb at his most vulnerable moments because of mechanical troubles and each time was pulled back up by his teammates.
His woes began when his rear derailleur broke, the incident seeing him hit his knee on his handlebars. Then, because his team car was so far back on the narrow road, he saved time by swapping bikes with his teammate Unai Etxebarria -- albeit switching to a much smaller one. It was not until the team car arrived, that he was able to switch to one of his own.
Mayo, who was the principal victim of crashes in stage 3, when he fell on the approach to the first sector of cobblestones, finally passed the summit 10 minutes behind Virenque.
"I am so angry. I always have problems at the worst possible moment. I just hope my bad luck is over," said the Basque after rejoining Armstrong's group and finally finishing with it, 5:19 behind Virenque.
Injuries take a toll
The long, sweeping descent of the Puy Mary also claimed two victims in spills: German Thomas Kessler (T-Mobile) and minutes later, Frenchman Sebastian Hinault (Crédit Agricole).
Kessler, who was in Ullrich's group, spun out on loose gravel on a left hand bend and skidded into a barbed wire fence, cracking a rib on a fence post. Miraculously, he was able to continue after about 5 minutes and finish second to last at 25:18. Doctors, however, later diagnosed the broken rib and he will not start on Thursday.
Not so fortunate was Hinault who found himself in a 3-foot-deep ditch on a left-hand bend. Medical staff quickly readied Hinault for transport and he was soon on his way to hospital where he was treated for a fractured vetebra.
Up front, Virenque was providing hundreds of thousands of French fans with something to celebrate, passing the penultimate climb, the 2.9km-long Col d'Entremont, at 189km with 1:00 on Merckx and 8:35 on the Voeckler/Armstrong/Ullrich-led peloton.
Even with one more climb and 48km to go, it was clear Virenque was going to win the first climbing stage of the 2004 Tour, just as he did at Morzine last year in the French Alps.
Over the ensuing kilometers, the yellow jersey group swept up Merckx as Virenque continued on his solo quest for victory on Bastille Day.
The remaining interest was whether anyone would attack in the peloton or not -- a hope that was barely satisfied. On the uphill finish, the charge for bonus seconds in the race for minor placings created a seven-second time gap between a group of 14 riders including favorites Armstrong, Ullrich and Mayo, and a 35-strong main bunch.
And for those who missed the split like Americans Tyler Hamilton (Phonak) and Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), and Spaniard Roberto Herras (Liberty Seguros), that meant an unexpected time loss that in modern Tour racing could be vital.
But then with the Pyrénées and Alps and two more time trials to come, chances are that the effect of those seven seconds will be minimal. But then again, who can forget 1989?
It was a happy Bastille Day for the housewives' favorite (Richard Virenque).
"Housewives' favorite"???
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2004 list. *Warning: This may be a high-volume ping list at times during July 2004.
A Frog and his word are easily parted.....
Not if I'm the Frog they ain't...
Does anybody have a breakdown of what the differently-colored/patterned jerseys mean? I know that the yellow jersey is routinely worn by the leader of the race. But what about the green jersey? The polka-dot jersey? The chintz pattern jersey?
Green jersey is for the points (sprint) leader. There are points at the end of flat stages and also at intermediate points along the way.
Polka dot jersey is for the mountains leader. There are points at the top of all climbs. That's what Virenque is going for.
There's a white jersey for the best young rider (25 or younger, I believe).
Those are the only 3 that the Tour provides (besides the yellow).
I'm not sure what chintz pattern you're referring to. Many of the other different jerseys you'll see are the national champsionship jerseys. E.g. Thor Hushovd is wearing a jersey that has a big Norwegian flag on it b/c he's their current national champion. There's also a world champion jersey, white with what looks like a gay pride rainbow across it. I'm not sure it's in this tour, though.
Don't quote me I just started watching the past few years..
The website indicates you are right. I thought maybe there was a jersey for the previous stage winner?
There is also an unofficial 'red lantern' jersey for last place according to the commentators, and it is sometimes a funny affair with 2-3 riders going as slow as possible under the lime limit battling not to get the 'trophy.'
The most aggressive rider typically just had a red number (as opposed to black) as his designation. Perhaps they changed that this year, but I had not heard.
I thought that all former world champions were allowed to wear the ribbon on their sleeve (Lance doesn't do it, though). The current world champion gets to wear the entire jersey, where the ribbon runs around the chest. At least that's what I thought, I could be wrong.
Green jersey = points jersey = sprinters jersey.
They aren't very consistent with how they refer to it, but they're all the same. Often the green jersey isn't decided until the final stage in Paris (typically that's the only jersey that hasn't long been decided by then).
Lance hasn't worn the ribbons in years, although I'm not sure why. I could have sworn I remembered the world championship jersey in previous Tours (Vainstains or Freire?).
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