Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Monster Stage 11: Carnage atop the Alps
Italian rider Dario Frigo (Fasso Bartolo) is out of the Tour for drugs. Authorities busted his wife for smuggling drugs in her car trunk and then hauled him out of the team's hotel in Courcheval at 8:15 AM. Frigo was also busted in 2001 for drugs during the Giro d'Italia. I guess he's a slow learner. Jean Marie LeBlanc, Tour organizer, apparently had the same opinion: "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 had been in 52nd position overall, now he's just in hot water.
The finish of today's route, from PezCyclingnews.com
Former Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli of Saunier Duval ROCKED another mountain stage today, coming in with the first large pack along with the Tour leaders at 1:15 back from the stage winners. He catapulted himself from last place for the first three days all the way up into 26th place overall in the Tour de France. AWESOME ride, Leonardo! Vai, Leonardo, vai!
Here's the damage that the Col de Galibier did to the members of the peloton:
- 028 VOIGT Jens CSC GER outside time limit
- 133 HULSMANS Kevin Quickstep BEL outside time limit
- 079 KIRCHEN Kim Fasso Bartolo LUX withdrawal
- 139 ZANINI Stefano Quickstep ITA withdrawal
- 201 NAZON Jean-Patrick A2R FRA withdrawal
Suddenly we're down to 167 riders.
Jens Voigt, former wearer of the yellow jersey in Stage 9, finished 39 seconds outside of the time limit in stage 11, which takes him out of the Tour. Oh, what a difference ~72 hours (and 39 seconds) makes! The second maillot-jaune-wearer of the CSC team to be forced to abandon! Voigt has been ill with fever for the past few days, according to CSC. "When I started in today's stage, I knew it was against all odds, but I still wanted to do everything I possibly could to continue."
As the Dailypeloton.com said, "Just under 2km to the summit of the Télégraphe .... Zanini (Quick Step) abandons the race. Not surprising. I would do the same thing."
Despite another solid finish in the 96th spot today with the penultimate grupetto to cross the line, Spanish rider Iker Flores (at right; riding for Euskaltel Euskadi) maintains his position as Lanterne Rouge. Ahead of him by about 10 minutes in the general classification (though finishing about 8 minutes later today) is Janeck Tombak, Lanterne Rouge for two stages to date. Third from last is Daniel Becke, a German rider on the Illes Balears team, who also finished in the final grupetto along with Tombak.
Labels: Becke, doping, Flores, Frigo, Iker, LeBlanc, Piepoli, Tombak, Voigt, Zanini
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