Friday, July 22, 2005
Stage 19: More of the same
The straggler out of 155 remaining riders today was Mauro Facci, an Italian rider for Fasso Bartolo, who came in about five minutes after anyone else.
Three riders from Euskaltel-Euskadi came in immediately before him, 9:38 after the stage winner: Iker Camano, Inigo Landaluze, and our Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores.
[Update: The day's medical communique said that Landaluze had chronic pain in his left hip, and was fined for holding onto a water bottle (for propulsion) too long at the team car four times; and Camano had a pain in his right leg. Presumably Flores was doing the job he gets paid for by escorting them safely across the finish line.]
So the margin for Iker Flores in the general classification is now 8:31 behind the penultimate rider. No change in the last two days in the order of the last five riders overall.
Leonardo Piepoli remains in 20th place overall!
I haven't yet found any special mention of any of them in the online race reports. They must have stuck with the peloton for most of the day.
Can you imagine the overwhelming fatigue they must be experiencing in their 19th day of this? But even so, we had no more abandons today. Hopefully many riders had a relatively calm, "restful" day in the saddle. The individual time trial tomorrow will certainly be tough and decisive for many positions in the general classification - and then you'll be joining your team along the Champs Elysees, boys. Enjoy it.
Three riders from Euskaltel-Euskadi came in immediately before him, 9:38 after the stage winner: Iker Camano, Inigo Landaluze, and our Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores.
[Update: The day's medical communique said that Landaluze had chronic pain in his left hip, and was fined for holding onto a water bottle (for propulsion) too long at the team car four times; and Camano had a pain in his right leg. Presumably Flores was doing the job he gets paid for by escorting them safely across the finish line.]
So the margin for Iker Flores in the general classification is now 8:31 behind the penultimate rider. No change in the last two days in the order of the last five riders overall.
Leonardo Piepoli remains in 20th place overall!
I haven't yet found any special mention of any of them in the online race reports. They must have stuck with the peloton for most of the day.
Can you imagine the overwhelming fatigue they must be experiencing in their 19th day of this? But even so, we had no more abandons today. Hopefully many riders had a relatively calm, "restful" day in the saddle. The individual time trial tomorrow will certainly be tough and decisive for many positions in the general classification - and then you'll be joining your team along the Champs Elysees, boys. Enjoy it.
