Thursday, July 07, 2005
Stage 6: Swiss Lanterne
Today our new Lanterne Rouge is rider #69, the charming Steve Zampieri, a Swiss rider for Phonak. He is down 11:08 from our previous LR, Janeck Tombak of Cofidis. No details yet, but the large margin suggests a big problem out on the road.Here's a bad Babelfish translation of the Phonak team site info (in German) on his delay: "Directeur Sportif Jacques Michaud accompanied the fatigued Steve Zampieri in the fight against the control conclusion on the last 60 kilometers."
Poor guy! Sounds like a really sucky day - especially having to maintain a speed of ~29 mph for 123 miles in the rain, 37 miles of that without a peloton to draft behind, and finishing 26:23 behind the stage winner after all the jerseys have been awarded.
Zampieri is a 28-year-old mountain specialist, taking 4th last year in the Tour de Romandie Mountain Time Trial and 10th overall; and 30th overall in this year's Giro d'Italia.
Hang on Steve, 2 days until the mountains!
Another late finisher was Sébastien Joly of Credit Agricole, who arrived by himself 12:54 after the stage winner.
Let's hope they bounce back quickly from a rough day.
Labels: Joly, Michaud, Tombak, Zampieri
