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
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Stage 10: Entering the Alps
A Lampre teammate, Austrian Gerrit Glomser, withdrew during the stage at the feeding station at 74 km. He had been in 67th position in the general classification.
That decreases the 2005 Tour de France field to 173 riders.
Tour organizers shortened the Stage 10 route by lopping off the first 11 km near Grenoble to avoid a farmers' protest against a ban on wolf hunting. Every little bit helps.
Flores Iker of Euskaltel-Euskadi retains the Lanterne Rouge position today with an 8 1/2-minute margin after finishing 169th in the stage. Closest riders to him in the general classification are 172nd place Jean-Patrick Nazon (A2R); former Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak (Cofidis) in 171st; and 170th place Daniel Becke (Iba).
Our former Lanterne Rouge, Leonardo Piepoli, had an incredible ride today. He hung with the front group all the way until about 10 km before the finish line, and finished in 12th spot just ahead of Jan Ullrich. That brings him up all the way to 40th place in the overall standings. Bravo, Leonardo!
There were no real stragglers among today's finishers - the last group to cross the line was a pack of fifty riders that came in 38 minutes after the stage winner, so no one was left out on the road coming in solo incurring a huge time gap today. That may change in tomorrow's huge stage.
Labels: abandonments, Becker, Flores, Glomser, Iker, Nazon, Petrov, Piepoli, Tombak
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
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Stage 8: They made it!
Martin Dugard described Dave's day in Stage 8: "David Zabriskie, who was experiencing the ultimate cycling high by winning the yellow jersey a week ago, had a wretched day today. He finished so far behind the field that Lance Armstrong had already changed out of his cycling shoes, answered preliminary interview questions, and completed the length[y] podium ceremony. Zabriskie looked scared before the start today, as if he would rather be anywhere else in the world than here. A few more finishes like today, and he may be."
Other finishers in the back of the pack in Stage 8, perhaps experiencing some difficulties on the climbs today, were Jean-Patrick Nazon (A2R); Jaan Kirsipuu (CA); and Luciano Pagliarini (LIQ).
Returning to the Lanterne Rouge position, in last place overall in the General Classification, #194 Iker Flores of Spain riding for Eukaltel Euskadi. He crossed the Stage 8 finish line at 46:05 after the stage winner. It was reported before Stage 4 that he has some hip and knee injuries. Flores was off the front of the peloton for a while about 5 km into the stage in pursuit of the two breakaway riders, but was caught again within 3 or 4 km.
Former Lanterne Rouge #127 Janeck Tombak of Estonia, riding for Cofidis, despite being a sprinter showed some ability in the mountains and made up time, crossing the finish line in 142nd place for the stage, 17:41 after the stage winner.
Even better, our first Lanterne Rouge #87 Leonardo Piepoli of the Saunier Duval team had an outstanding day in the hills, showing off his climbing skills by finishing in the first pack (along with his American teammate Christopher Horner, Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, et al.) only 27 seconds behind the stage winners.
Labels: Armstrong, Flores, Horner, Iker, Kirsipuu, Nazon, Pagliarini, Piepoli, Tombak, Ullrich, Zabriskie
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Stage 5: Estonian Lanterne
Iker Flores has relinquished his position as Lanterne Rouge today to rider #127 The Daily Peleton said of him earlier, "Former Estonian champion Janek Tombak will also be helping “Stuey” [sprinter Stuart O'Grady] while still concentrating on his own race. A competent sprinter, the Tour de Picardie winner had several sprint top tens last year, and will be looking for the same kind of finishes this time round, though he is still capable of infiltrating a breakaway. However, with his speed, he is a good leadout man and will have no qualms about helping his Australian captain in the final kilometre."
Unfortunately today also saw the first rider abandon the 2005 Tour, Constantino Zaballa, a Spaniard riding for Saunier Duval, a teammate of our first Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli. We previously mentioned that Zaballa lost time in Stage 3. Cyclingpost.com says Zaballa "attempted a final attack in the second kilometers of Wednesday's stage, but was soon caught by the pack, after which he called it a day. The abandonment comes as a surprise, as Zaballa was one of Saunier Duval's most influential riders this season, with a third place in the final classification of Paris-Nice as most notable result."Later update: Cyclingnews.com reports that Zaballa had a knee injury in the team time trial, and was suffering throughout the previous night.
Labels: Flores, Iker, O'Grady, Piepoli, Tombak, Zaballa
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
New Spanish Lanterne Rouge
At the left is a photo of Iker from last year's Tour de France, serving as a good domestique for his team leader Iban Mayo by giving him his front wheel after a crash. Er, maybe both wheels.According to the Daily Peleton, "his brother Igor was the Lanterne Rouge in Paris a few years back. Of course, Iker is an attacker who you can bet will be off the front in the mountains. Also interesting to note that all riders are still in the race... nobody has abandoned yet, which is a huge change from a year ago."
This morning's medical communique indicates that Iker has hip and right knee injuries, possibly accounting for some difficulties in the team time trial.
Labels: Euskaltel-Euskadi, Flores, Igor, Iker, Mayo
