Friday, February 06, 2009
Best wishes, Magnus!
Magnus Backstedt, former Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France (Stage 4, 2006) and perennial favorite of Clydesdale riders worldwide, has announced his retirement. Best wishes to him in the new phase of his career!
In his honor, we present our own special "Separated at Birth" moment featuring Magnus Backstedt and Uncle Fester:
Previously featured in our extremely limited "Separated at Birth" series: Marcus Burghardt and Wim Vansevenant.
In his honor, we present our own special "Separated at Birth" moment featuring Magnus Backstedt and Uncle Fester:
Previously featured in our extremely limited "Separated at Birth" series: Marcus Burghardt and Wim Vansevenant.
Labels: Backstedt, Burghardt, Fester, Vansevenant
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Vansevenant profiled in Wall Street Journal
Bill Strickland posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal today about Wim Vansevenant and his probable historic triple Lanterne Rouge finish.
He concludes: "Some cycling fans discover the lore of the Lanterne Rouge and become captivated by how it rewards fruitless struggle and alchemizes failure into a kind of success. You'll know you've become one of them if, Friday, you look first at the bottom of the standings instead of the top."
Once again, I beg to differ with his assessment that Wim Vansevenant's string of Tour de France finishes - in any position - represent anything remotely resembling failure or defeat.
No. Ricco's departure was defeat in disgrace. Magnus Backstedt's and Jimmy Casper's agonizing finishes while failing to meet the time cutoffs are glorious defeats.
Wim Vansevenant is a survivor, and as he labors to support his team leader, Cadel Evans, every day of the Tour, he is perhaps the noblest representative of the self-effacing efforts of every domestique in the peloton who rides, unnoticed, in the essential support of every podium finisher. We fans have nothing but respect for him and his fellows.
He concludes: "Some cycling fans discover the lore of the Lanterne Rouge and become captivated by how it rewards fruitless struggle and alchemizes failure into a kind of success. You'll know you've become one of them if, Friday, you look first at the bottom of the standings instead of the top."
Once again, I beg to differ with his assessment that Wim Vansevenant's string of Tour de France finishes - in any position - represent anything remotely resembling failure or defeat.
No. Ricco's departure was defeat in disgrace. Magnus Backstedt's and Jimmy Casper's agonizing finishes while failing to meet the time cutoffs are glorious defeats.
Wim Vansevenant is a survivor, and as he labors to support his team leader, Cadel Evans, every day of the Tour, he is perhaps the noblest representative of the self-effacing efforts of every domestique in the peloton who rides, unnoticed, in the essential support of every podium finisher. We fans have nothing but respect for him and his fellows.
Labels: Backstedt, Casper, Evans, Ricco, Vansevenant
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tribute to Maggie
Over at Cycling Fans Anonymous in the July 12 entry, there was a wonderful tribute to Magnus Backstedt (be sure to follow the link to the photo), in contrast to the dopers who have disappointed us:
"Magnus Backstedt was caught by photographer Patrick Hertzog in an indelible portrait of agony, after sadly missing the time cut due to illness and exhaustion in yesterday's stage. Note the poignancy of the phantom hand of the spectator above him, attempting to keep him from falling. Something about this picture encapsulates the Tour for me. The epic scale of the human struggle, and the warmth of the true fans towards the deserving riders, whose great sacrifice is well acknowledged and honored. For every doper who sadly disappoints us, there is another valiant and clean rider whose courage and dignity even in the face of the bitterest defeat cannot be forgotten or overlooked."
"Magnus Backstedt was caught by photographer Patrick Hertzog in an indelible portrait of agony, after sadly missing the time cut due to illness and exhaustion in yesterday's stage. Note the poignancy of the phantom hand of the spectator above him, attempting to keep him from falling. Something about this picture encapsulates the Tour for me. The epic scale of the human struggle, and the warmth of the true fans towards the deserving riders, whose great sacrifice is well acknowledged and honored. For every doper who sadly disappoints us, there is another valiant and clean rider whose courage and dignity even in the face of the bitterest defeat cannot be forgotten or overlooked."
Labels: Backstedt
Friday, July 11, 2008
Stage Seven: Brioude to Aurillac
A big group of 61 riders crossed the line today at 21:53 after the stage-winning rider. Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant of Silence-Lotto crossed the line just before them at 20:16, not far behind teammate Johan Van Summeren (who crashed on a descent).
It was a bad day for several riders - Manuel Beltran of Liquigas was pulled from the race for a positive EPO "A" test from stage one after finishing 33rd for the stage (26th overall), and there were four abandons:
166 JEGOU Lilian (FRA) FRANCAISE DES JEUX withdrawal
121 MOREAU Christophe (FRA) AGRITUBEL withdrawal
106 GADRET John (FRA) AG2R-LA MONDIALE withdrawal
95 FACCI Mauro (ITA) QUICK STEP withdrawal
According to the Cyclingnews coverage: Moreau attacked and was dropped on one of the first climbs at about 85 km into the stage, and abandoned at 96 km (but had not crashed). Facci abandoned at some point before that. Gadret abandoned at about 110 km in the stage/49 km to go.
Former Lanterne Rouge (2006, stage 4) Magnus Backstedt of Garmin-Chipotle was eliminated for finishing outside the time limit for the stage.
The last four riders in the standings (with 170 riders left in the race) remain mostly the same - although Nicki Sorensen of CSC-Saxo has moved up to 141st overall, and the margin between the last two riders has decreased to 33 seconds:
167. HAUSSLER Heinrich 114 GEROLSTEINER 29h 14' 29" + 50' 49"
168. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 66 LIQUIGAS 29h 15' 51" + 52' 11"
169. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 29h 16' 38" + 52' 58"
170. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 29h 20' 52" + 57' 12"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 29h 21' 25" + 57' 45"
Note: Apologies to my regular readers, but I'm going out of town tomorrow to a race and may not be able to update this blog for a few days.
It was a bad day for several riders - Manuel Beltran of Liquigas was pulled from the race for a positive EPO "A" test from stage one after finishing 33rd for the stage (26th overall), and there were four abandons:
166 JEGOU Lilian (FRA) FRANCAISE DES JEUX withdrawal
121 MOREAU Christophe (FRA) AGRITUBEL withdrawal
106 GADRET John (FRA) AG2R-LA MONDIALE withdrawal
95 FACCI Mauro (ITA) QUICK STEP withdrawal
According to the Cyclingnews coverage: Moreau attacked and was dropped on one of the first climbs at about 85 km into the stage, and abandoned at 96 km (but had not crashed). Facci abandoned at some point before that. Gadret abandoned at about 110 km in the stage/49 km to go.
Former Lanterne Rouge (2006, stage 4) Magnus Backstedt of Garmin-Chipotle was eliminated for finishing outside the time limit for the stage.
The last four riders in the standings (with 170 riders left in the race) remain mostly the same - although Nicki Sorensen of CSC-Saxo has moved up to 141st overall, and the margin between the last two riders has decreased to 33 seconds:
167. HAUSSLER Heinrich 114 GEROLSTEINER 29h 14' 29" + 50' 49"
168. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 66 LIQUIGAS 29h 15' 51" + 52' 11"
169. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 29h 16' 38" + 52' 58"
170. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 29h 20' 52" + 57' 12"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 29h 21' 25" + 57' 45"
Note: Apologies to my regular readers, but I'm going out of town tomorrow to a race and may not be able to update this blog for a few days.
Labels: Auge, Backstedt, Beltran, Facci, Gadret, Haussler, Jegou, Kuschynski, Moreau, Sorensen, Sprick, Van Summeren, Vansevenant
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Stage Two: Auray to Saint-Brieuc
Juan Mauricio Soler bravely made it to the start line and all the way to the end of the stage today, but it was NOT a fun day for him. VeloNews reports: "The Colombian condor had his wings clipped in a stage one crash that left him battered and bruised. Riding with bandages wrapping his tender wrists, Soler was dropped by the peloton with about 25km to go. He was able to hang on to finish the stage, but his overall GC hopes are done. "
Soler finished 7:18 after the stage winner along with Rubens Bertogliati of Saunier Duval-Scott, which dropped him into the Lanterne Rouge spot at 10:22 behind the overall lead. Let's wish him a better day tomorrow. Contrary to earlier reports, he did not have any broken bones.
Bertogliati crashed at 136 km, lacerating his hip and right elbow, and required stitches. Ouch.
Additionally, in today's stage, "Haussler (Gerolsteiner), Dean (Garmin-Chipotle) and Bonnet (Credit Agricole), all crashed at 163km without serious injury."
That's better than former Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt (Stage 4, 2006) of Garmin-Chipotle, who was injured by whacking his kneecap against the shower door inside the team bus after Stage One.
Soler finished 7:18 after the stage winner along with Rubens Bertogliati of Saunier Duval-Scott, which dropped him into the Lanterne Rouge spot at 10:22 behind the overall lead. Let's wish him a better day tomorrow. Contrary to earlier reports, he did not have any broken bones.
Bertogliati crashed at 136 km, lacerating his hip and right elbow, and required stitches. Ouch.
Additionally, in today's stage, "Haussler (Gerolsteiner), Dean (Garmin-Chipotle) and Bonnet (Credit Agricole), all crashed at 163km without serious injury."
That's better than former Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt (Stage 4, 2006) of Garmin-Chipotle, who was injured by whacking his kneecap against the shower door inside the team bus after Stage One.
Labels: Backstedt, Bertogliati, Dean. Bonnet, Haussler, Soler
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Stage One: Brest to Plumelec
A group of six riders, many of them familiar to us, finished the first stage of the 2008 Tour at the back of the pack. These included teammates Christopher Froome and Gianpaolo Cheula from Barloworld (4:04 back from the leader). Final group finishing at 4:56 back: two-time Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant of Silence-Lotto; Stéphane Auge of Cofidis; Magnus Backstedt of Garmin Chipotle (stage 4 Lanterne Rouge in the 2006 Tour); and officially the last rider over the line today - becoming the first Lanterne Rouge of the 2008 Tour - was Aleksandr Kuschynski of Liquigas.This is a repeat performance - curiously, Kuschynski was also the Stage One Lanterne Rouge in the 2007 Tour. (Note: his team website spells his name Aliaksandr Kuchynski).
It already seems that Wim Vansevenant truly wants to retain the position of Lanterne Rouge for the third year and set a new record. Since it's a tremendously difficult accomplishment to even finish the entire 3500 km of Le Tour, let's wish him the best in accomplishing that goal. It should be noted that he is a teammate of favorite Cadel Evans and will be working on his behalf throughout the Tour.
According to Cycling News: "Wim Vansevenant (Silence-Lotto), the flamme rouge [sic] in the past has some plays on repeating for 2008. "It is not a goal, but why not?" he stated to compatriot Decaluwé at the day's start in Brest. He warned is not all that easy to be the last placed rider by the race's finish in Paris, "You need to do something for it." Vansevenant's team-mate Van Summeren joked, "wasn't there a day when you fell before the finish to gain time on your rivals!""
Two-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Jimmy Casper (Agritubel) was involved in a crash at 52 km to go, but went on to finish 1:52 behind the leader.
Labels: Auge, Backstedt, Casper, Cheula, Evans, Froome, Kuschynski, Van Summeren, Vansevenant
Thursday, September 06, 2007
La Vuelta continues
I haven't followed the Vuelta closely this year, I admit. Right now after Stage 5 their Lanterne Rouge of 183 riders is Vincent Jérôme, a French cyclist on Buoygues Telecom, 6:02 back from the penultimate rider in the overall standings.
I was just interested to see that our old friends Tom Boonen of Quickstep-Innergetic, Magnus Backstedt of Liquigas, and Bradley McGee of Française des Jeux were all in the bottom 15 riders (#168, #172, and #181 respectively).
I was just interested to see that our old friends Tom Boonen of Quickstep-Innergetic, Magnus Backstedt of Liquigas, and Bradley McGee of Française des Jeux were all in the bottom 15 riders (#168, #172, and #181 respectively).
Labels: Backstedt, Boonen, Jérôme, McGee
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
La Vuelta '07 startlist
The tentative riders' list for La Vuelta Espana is now posted over at Velonews.
Previous Lanternes Rouges include Magnus Backstedt on the list for Liquigas (and Filippo Pozzato on their reserves).
Climbing specialist Leonardo Piepoli is also returning to the peloton for Saunier Duval - Prodir.
Previous Lanternes Rouges include Magnus Backstedt on the list for Liquigas (and Filippo Pozzato on their reserves).
Climbing specialist Leonardo Piepoli is also returning to the peloton for Saunier Duval - Prodir.
Labels: Backstedt, Piepoli, Pozzato, Vuelta
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Maggie in argyle
It looks like Slipstream has indeed grabbed another one of my favorite riders, Swedish national road race champion and former Lanterne Rouge: Magnus Backstedt.
I don't blame him, after being left off the 2007 Tour roster by Credit Agricole Liquigas.
Clydesdales wearing argyle and riding Felts. Ahhh, life is good. :-)
Labels: Backstedt
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Will they be riding FELTS and wearing ARGYLE?
There's a rumor going around that some big guns are heading to Slipstream next year. But not participating in the Grand Tours, which would be criminal! Names bandied about include some of our favorites like Zabriskie and former Lanterne Rouge Backstedt.
Hmmmm. . . . I really would love to see them on a Felt, same as I ride, though.
Hmmmm. . . . I really would love to see them on a Felt, same as I ride, though.
Monday, July 02, 2007
National Champion Lanterne Rouge
Magnus Backstedt, Swedish rider on the Liquigas team, became the national road race champion of Sweden on July 1, 2007 in a 200-km event. Backstedt was Lanterne Rouge of the 2006 Tour de France during Stage 4.
Filippo Pozzato, Lanterne Rouge of Stage 3 of the 2006 Tour, also competed in the Italian 262-km national road race championships on July 1, 2007 and finished in fifth place.
The two are teammates on Team Liquigas. Only Pozzato appears on the 2007 Liquigas Tour de France roster; apparently Backstedt will relax after winning his national championship.
Filippo Pozzato, Lanterne Rouge of Stage 3 of the 2006 Tour, also competed in the Italian 262-km national road race championships on July 1, 2007 and finished in fifth place.
The two are teammates on Team Liquigas. Only Pozzato appears on the 2007 Liquigas Tour de France roster; apparently Backstedt will relax after winning his national championship.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Past Tour de France Lanternes Rouges in 2007
Here's an update on what I've been able to dig up about the current situation of the Tour de France Lanternes Rouges of recent years. If you have any additional current information on any of these, please leave it in the comments!
2006 Prologue Lanterne Rouge Ruben Lobato Elvira will be in the 2007 Tour de France riding for Saunier Duval-Prodir.
2006 Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge Danilo Di Luca won the 2007 Giro d'Italia for Team Liquigas, and then announced that he would not be riding Le Tour, but soon after came under suspicion of doping. His case is still awaiting a resolution.
2006 Stage 2 Lanterne Rouge Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez was not named for the 2007 Tour de France roster for his team, Euskaltel-Euskadi.
2006 Stage 3 Lanterne Rouge Filippo Pozzato is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Italian national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Stage 4 Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Swedish national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Lanterne Rouge of 9 Stages, Sébastien Joly, is a member of the Française des Jeux team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster. In his earlier years he rode with Bonjour alongside fellow Lanternes Rouges of 1998, Damien Nazon, and 2000, Olivier Parraudeau.
2006 overall Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant is a member of the Predictor-Lotto team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster.
2005 Stages 1-3 Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli, mountain climber for Saunier Duval-Prodir, won the mountain climber competition at the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but is under investigation for excessive levels of asthma medication during the Giro, and is not on their 2007 Tour de France roster.
2005 Stages 5 and 7 Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak, an Estonian now riding for the second-tier Jartazi Promo Fashion team, not a Team in the 2007 Tour. He recently won the 4th stage in the Tour of Picardie.
2005 Stage 6 Lanterne Rouge Steve Zampieri was a member of the now-disbanded Phonak cycling team. He now rides for Cofidis but was not named for their 2007 Tour de France team.
2005 overall Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores (brother of 2002 Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores) is now riding for Fuerteventura (a new pro-continental team, formerly Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) and is "one of the favourites to win the Euskal Bizikleta which kicks off on June 8th in the Basque country of Spain."
Two-time Lanterne Rouge (2001 and 2004) Jimmy Casper now is a member of the Unibet.com cycling team, which as a gambling concern has been barred from racing (and thereby advertising their product) on French soil.
2003 overall Lanterne Rouge Hans de Clerq rode for Lotto-Domo, which has turned into the Predictor-Lotto team. According to the Dutch Wikipedia, "Hans De Clercq is since 2006 also competition leader of the Per Tour-competition Ghent-Wevelgem and since 2007 team leader of the cyclo-cross race team Sunweb-ProJob".
2002 overall Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores rode for Euskaltel-Euskadi and currently rides as a guide for Grupetto Tours.
2000 overall Lanterne Rouge Olivier Perraudeau rode for Bonjour in 2002 along with 1998 Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon and subsequent 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. I haven't found more recent news.
1999 overall Lanterne Rouge Jacky Durand worked for Eurosport in 2006.
1998 overall Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon also rode for Bonjour in 2002 with subsequent Lanterne Rouge Olivier Parraudeau of 2000 and 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. Until 2005 he rode for Credit Agricole.
2006 Prologue Lanterne Rouge Ruben Lobato Elvira will be in the 2007 Tour de France riding for Saunier Duval-Prodir.
2006 Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge Danilo Di Luca won the 2007 Giro d'Italia for Team Liquigas, and then announced that he would not be riding Le Tour, but soon after came under suspicion of doping. His case is still awaiting a resolution.
2006 Stage 2 Lanterne Rouge Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez was not named for the 2007 Tour de France roster for his team, Euskaltel-Euskadi.
2006 Stage 3 Lanterne Rouge Filippo Pozzato is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Italian national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Stage 4 Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Swedish national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Lanterne Rouge of 9 Stages, Sébastien Joly, is a member of the Française des Jeux team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster. In his earlier years he rode with Bonjour alongside fellow Lanternes Rouges of 1998, Damien Nazon, and 2000, Olivier Parraudeau.
2006 overall Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant is a member of the Predictor-Lotto team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster.
2005 Stages 1-3 Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli, mountain climber for Saunier Duval-Prodir, won the mountain climber competition at the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but is under investigation for excessive levels of asthma medication during the Giro, and is not on their 2007 Tour de France roster.
2005 Stages 5 and 7 Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak, an Estonian now riding for the second-tier Jartazi Promo Fashion team, not a Team in the 2007 Tour. He recently won the 4th stage in the Tour of Picardie.
2005 Stage 6 Lanterne Rouge Steve Zampieri was a member of the now-disbanded Phonak cycling team. He now rides for Cofidis but was not named for their 2007 Tour de France team.
2005 overall Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores (brother of 2002 Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores) is now riding for Fuerteventura (a new pro-continental team, formerly Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) and is "one of the favourites to win the Euskal Bizikleta which kicks off on June 8th in the Basque country of Spain."
Two-time Lanterne Rouge (2001 and 2004) Jimmy Casper now is a member of the Unibet.com cycling team, which as a gambling concern has been barred from racing (and thereby advertising their product) on French soil.
2003 overall Lanterne Rouge Hans de Clerq rode for Lotto-Domo, which has turned into the Predictor-Lotto team. According to the Dutch Wikipedia, "Hans De Clercq is since 2006 also competition leader of the Per Tour-competition Ghent-Wevelgem and since 2007 team leader of the cyclo-cross race team Sunweb-ProJob".
2002 overall Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores rode for Euskaltel-Euskadi and currently rides as a guide for Grupetto Tours.
2000 overall Lanterne Rouge Olivier Perraudeau rode for Bonjour in 2002 along with 1998 Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon and subsequent 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. I haven't found more recent news.
1999 overall Lanterne Rouge Jacky Durand worked for Eurosport in 2006.
1998 overall Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon also rode for Bonjour in 2002 with subsequent Lanterne Rouge Olivier Parraudeau of 2000 and 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. Until 2005 he rode for Credit Agricole.
Labels: Backstedt, Casper, de Clerq, DiLuca, Durand, Flores, Hernandez, Joly, Lobato, Nazon, Perraudeau, Piepoli, Pozzato, Tombak, Vansevenant, Zampieri
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Today is Sinko de Mayo
Iban Mayo's sunk. The highly-regarded Spaniard, leader of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team and once thought to be a podium contender, abandoned about 3:40 PM local time, after struggling all day yesterday and in the first part of today's stage. "The Spanish team said earlier on Thursday that Mayo had caught a cold on the plane from Lorient to Bordeaux on Sunday." It was also reported that he had knee problems.Another interesting account: "Euskaltel team leader Iban Mayo showed his anger at a cameraman tracking his progress on Thursday afternoon as the Spaniard was unable to keep pace with the peloton. Apparently unwilling to be filmed abandoning the race, Mayo instructed the cameraman tracking his progress to continue up the road, before eventually stepping down off his bike. The 29 year-old has been suffering from a sore throat for the last couple of days, reportedly brought on by air conditioning in his hotel room." Gosh, I forgot that air conditioning is so rare at the riders' lodgings that when it's encountered it carries the threat of disease.
Giovanni Lombardi, an Italian on the CSC team also abandoned earlier in the day. Additionally, Wilfried Cretskens, Belgian rider on the Quickstep-Innergetic team, abandoned today. No news yet on the reasons for these withdrawals. (CSC cycling is usually prompt with their news updates, but nothing about Lombardi yet. Nothing new has been posted on the Quickstep team site for an entire week! Jeez, help us out here!) (Update: CSC's site says now that Lombardi had stomach problems.)
That leaves 165 riders still in the 2006 Tour.
The final finisher of this monster stage was Cristophe Mengin, French rider on the Française des Jeux team, at a colossal time gap of 46:13 behind the stage winner. Our former Lanterne Rouge and his teammate, Sébastien Joly, finished well up at 107th place at 35:47 today.
That allowed Joly to move up one place in the standings and means that we have a new Lanterne Rouge: Wim Vansevenant, a Belgian rider on the Davitamon-Lotto team. He finished in the autobus today at 44:20 for the stage. He actually had been in 166th place yesterday and moves UP to 165th, but with the three abandons today that gives him the greatest aggregate time of the riders remaining in the peleton. He finished the 2005 Tour in 154th place, the penultimate position.Stage finish positions for the other previous Lanterne Rouges of the 2006 Tour: Rubén Lobato 28th (7:22), Aitor Hernandez 108th (35:47), Filippo Pozzato 109th (40:32), Magnus Backstedt 140th (44:20).
Labels: Backstedt, Cretskens, Hernandez, Joly, Lobato, Lombardi, Mayo, Mengin, Pozzato, Vansevenant
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Stage 9: Mountain fever epidemic
American Dave Zabriskie, riding for CSC, dropped out of the Tour de France today at about the 10 km point in Stage 9. He was visibly exhausted and demoralized. He said he had an "overall extremely bad feeling in my whole body" and called his withdrawal "a bad moment in my life". He said of his dizzying descent from leader of the Tour to withdrawal from the race, "I was way up here and way down there - it's a crazy sport".Commentator Bob Roll criticized the CSC team for leaving Dave alone on the side of the road bleeding after his crash near the finish line of the team time trial, and indicated that the experience must have contributed to his poor performance the last few days.
Dave hopes to recover sufficiently to go on to the world cycling championships in a few weeks. Bravo, Dave, good luck and thanks for giving us spectators such a great ride on your first Tour de France! As his teammate Jens Voigt said, "Whatever happens, he's still my hero. He gave the team a great start with the stage win and the yellow jersey. He beat Lance Armstrong and that doesn't happen very often."
Also withdrawing today from the Tour de France: Jose Angel Gomez Marchante, a Spaniard riding for Saunier Duval who broke his collarbone in an accident in the feed zone; Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, a Spaniard riding for Liberty Seguros who crashed at the 4 km mark going at a speed of about 30 mph, but fortunately suffered only severe bruising. [Update, July 23: Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano has been diagnosed with a broken coccyx (tailbone), 12 days after he pulled out of the Tour de France. The rider underwent a new MRI scan this week due to the persistent backaches he has suffered since his bad crash on stage nine of the race. The Liberty Seguros rider must take a break and allow the injury to heal, with rest the only treatment for the fracture. Manolo Saiz will wait for him to recover before designing his program for the rest of the season. In theory, the Vuelta a España is a big objective, providing he can get into condition for the race. ]
Also abandoning were two riders who experienced trouble starting on the Category 2 climbs yesterday: Jaan Kirsipuu, an Estonian sprinter on the Credit Agricole team (who routinely withdraws from the Tour in the mountains) who was dropped by the peloton at 5km; and Luciano Pagliarini, a Brazilian on the Liquidgas team (a sprinter and teammate of Magnus Backstedt).
That leaves 175 riders still in the peloton as the race heads into the Alps after a rest day tomorrow.
Iker Flores maintains his position as Lanterne Rouge, last in the General Classification, with an aggregate time of 1:12:25 behind the maillot jaune. He had a solid finish in 101st position for the stage today, however. From the Euskaltel-Euskadi team site after Stage 6 on July 7, a really bad translation from the Spanish: "The equipment this good. Iker Flores this a little sore due to the fall that underwent the other day, but good, is logical. Of to the Alps one recovers here safe. By the others, all we were well, with the high moral. If it were not thus, equal already we would have gone away. We have margin and we aspired to make pretty things in this Tour."
The only rider to finish significantly behind the major groups in Stage 9 was #34 Daniel Becke, a German sprinter on the Illes Balears team, who crossed the finish line last by himself about 5 minutes in arrears. Becke was 4th in the 1st stage of the Vuelta a Alemania last year.
Labels: Backstedt, Becke, de Galdeano, Flores, Iker, Kirsipuu, Marchante, Mountain Fever, Pagliarini, Roll, Saiz, Voigt, Zabriskie
