Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2005 list.
Posted on 07/14/2005 2:04:01 AM PDT by lowbuck
Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov may have little hope of winning the Tour de France, but he reinforced his claims to being one of Lance Armstrong's most serious challengers yesterday by pulling back 1min 15sec on the leader on the second day in the Alps between Courchevel and Briancon.
Vinokourov produced one of the best performances of the first 11 days when he crossed the highest mountains of this year's event alone and still managed to beat Colombian Santiago Botero in the sprint at the end.
Behind him, Armstrong's team again drove the chase, bringing their leader home in sixth place, and with his overall lead still intact. The only significant change of the day came when Frenchman Christophe Moreau finished third and moved into the same place overall.
Vinokourov, the Kazakh champion, made his move soon after the race started, joining a group of eight riders in the vanguard as they tackled the Col de la Madeleine, a formidable 15-mile climb. Botero, a former king of the mountains, was first to the climb, but Vinokourov soon took control and rode much of the rest of the day alone up front.
The highest point of the Tour was the Col du Galibier, where the first rider to the top stood to win £4500 in memory of Henri Desgranges, the race's founder 102 years ago. Here Vinokourov was in solitary splendour, but Botero, taking risks on the descent, caught up with 20 miles to go.
Before the start yesterday, drugs again took centre stage when Italian rider Dario Frigo was arrested by police at his Courchevel hotel at 7.30am. The arrest came after Frigo's wife was stopped on the motorway by customs officials near the Alps town of Albertville.
She was found to have around 10 vials in the boot of her car which were understood to contain the blood booster Erythropoietin. Police said charges will be brought against Frigo and his wife. Tour officials emphasised that Frigo's removal from the race was a result of police action and nothing to do with results of the routine daily drugs tests. Jean-Marie Leblanc, the race director, said: "We deeply regret this case which concerns a rider who has already had brushes with the police and the sport's authorities. He belongs to a generation of riders who just won't learn. That generation has to leave as soon as possible to be replaced by a generation of riders who respect the rules."
Frigo, 31, was arrested during a police raid in the 2001 Tour of Italy when he was lying second overall. They discovered drugs in his hotel room and he was later banned from cycling for nine months.
This season he has won only one race and was riding virtually unseen in 52nd position. His Fassa Bortolo team, who were quick to distance themselves from a rider who has appeared for them since 2001, will almost certainly dismiss him once the dust has settled. Team sporting director Bruno Cenghialta said: "We're furious."
The ferocity of yesterday's ride exacted its toll on Jens Voigt, the German who took the lead away from Armstrong on Sunday and then lost it when the race resumed on Tuesday.
Voigt, one of the race's most popular riders, finished 43 seconds outside the time limit with the Belgian Kevin Hulsmans. They were both eliminated, reducing the field to 167 from the 189 who left Noirmoutier almost two weeks' ago.
FWIW, there was speculation yesterday in one of the German papers that Vinokourov might be going to move to the Discovery team nest year!
When does Lance start to turn it on?
Man oh man, I think in the last few days the leaders have all been giving over 100%.
I was so tired after the race on Tuesday I had to eat two scoops of walnut ice cream just to cool down!
Looks to be a very hot day here in southern Germany, I imagine it will be cooler in the mountains, but I think it will be a warm day to race.
BTW enjoyed your blog.
Thank you, I haven't updated it recently I need some good inspiration.
what I meant was at what stage does Lance start to pull away and which one is he the best at?
Go to the OLNtv.com website and read the daily reports by Ligget, Sherwen, Roll and Carmichael, and you will have a good understanding.
Lance turned the screws and shredded his main rivals on Stage 10. In the process, he put big time gaps into Ullrich, Vinokurov, Kloden, Basso, etc. The only riders who could stay with him were Rasmussen, Valverde, and Mancebo. Chris Carmichael, his coach, said he still had plenty left in the tank. He let Vinokurov get away yesterday because he was down by more than six minutes. Armstrong and his team purposely limited Vinokurov to about a minute in gain yesterday. They can't chase every breakaway by a guy who is six minutes down. They now have to worry about Rasmussen, Valverde and Christophe Moreau who are much closer. Lance will attack only when he needs to.
ping
BUCKHEAD! YOU DA MAN! Thanks for the info! :D
Vino is too inconsistent. Ullrich is his usual non-attacking self, Voigt was riding with a 105 fever and appears to be history. I have no idea how Rasmussen has kept this pace. Very surprising.
Armstrong will likely wrap things up once they hit the Pyranees in a few days. For the next few stages, the Tour goes over relatively level terrain, meaning little chance for a real contender to make a serious breakaway from the peloton. Once they get back in the mountains, I expect Armstrong/Discovery Channel to take an opportunity to break the wills of anyone left within hailing distance of the lead. Then, on the final time trial, Armstrong will seal the deal, if anyone is still hanging around.
I never watched ANY of these just wondering what stages he was good at.
Armstrong is an extremely good overall rider. He will, with the help of tremendous preparation and team planning, generally make time gains on the mountain stages. In my experience of watching, it will be on the most gruelling hills that he will make his move. The team (Discovery Channel, formerly US Postal) will provide a "train" of riders to break the headwinds and establish a punishing pace, and then peel off as they tire out, leaving Armstrong to finish strong, along with anyone else who manages to keep up.
Armstrong also does very well in indiidual time trials (a staggered-start stage where each rider is on his own, with no drafting allowed), and the DSC team won the team time trial earlier in the race.
They let Vino win. Discovery needed an out-of-contention rider up the road to discourage others from trying to break away (because the leader is too far ahead to catch for the stage win) so that they didn't have to constantly chase people down. After losing a bunch of time the other day, it was Vino's turn. Then Discovery just had to hold the gap steady before bringing it down once there was no chance of the pack actually catching him. The stage win means nothing on days that Armstrong can't win and also gain significant time, i.e. other than mountaintop finishes and time trials. Also they suckered Vino into wasting energy he would need in the Pyrenees and next week by giving him the consolation of a pyrrhic stage win and a few seconds of time.
Allah, isn't this race over yet????
This goes on longer than the basketball playoffs.
Can't someone just conquer france & be done with it?
\rant
Absolutely. Very good insight on your part. Lance has a solid strategy.....I guess that's how you win 6 in a row...er, dare I say 7?
Here's my "problem"....will I watch as intensely next year w/o Lance?
Allah, isn't this race over yet????
LOL!!! But, I think you will agree that it is better than endless Michael J or OJ Court TV especially since the commentators need to understand a little about what is happening rather than blushing over Michael's choice of lipstick for that day.
How can a guy with no chance be a serious challenger? Why not be honest and just title the article: "Here's an article about a bicyclist from Kazhakastan".
Thanks for the ping... I'll ping the TDF list.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2005 list.
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