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07/24/2005

VCTour de France Daily Updates

Daily Tour de France Lanterne Rouge updates. Click the more button for your further reading enjoyment.

STAGE 21 and OVERALL

Absolutely not changes in the standings as the rain forced the officials to place the GC time at the first lap of Paris. Of course given the carnage on the first lap and a half or so after the "racing" for stage placings began, it was a wise safety move to cancel the effect on the overall.

Final overall:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP @ 92h 35' 26"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  10' 59"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  17' 15"
4)      Daniel Becke    IBA-GER @  18' 08"
5)      Robert Forster  QST-GER @  18' 44"
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11)     Michael Albasini LIQ-SUI @ 29' 21" (best young rider)
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155)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  4h 20' 24" (DFL for the 7th straight time)

At the average pace for the tour, that puts Lance Armstrong about 180 km off the pace.

STAGE 20

Today's stage saw some riders trying for final position as the penultimate stage is the last traditional stage to get any time. Daniel Becke put in the performance of the day taking stage custodian honors. Becke took 24" from his closest competitor Manuel Quiziato and more importantly, 1'46" from Robert Forster (10th on the day). This moved Becke up to become the best placed German in the race - a position that may play a role in future contract negotiations.

Iker Flores, with a comfortable lead in the overall, rode a conservative time trial and placed 11th on the day. Janeck Tomback, responding to the pressure of the two Germans put in a strong ride to finish @ 2'16" to Becke thus preserving his spot on the last step of the podium. Wim Vansevenant with time in hand on Tomback and no chance of catching Flores finished a mediocre 43rd at 4'17" to Becke.

And what of local boy Lance Armstrong? Well, once again he went out and proved that he doesn't have the right stuff. For something like the 22nd time (not counting the Team Time Trial) Lance finished a stage as the day's DFL. This also marks the 80-somethingth day that he's been DFL of the tour - a record only eclipsed by Eddy Merckx.

Standings after Stage 20:

1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP @ 92h 35' 26"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  10' 59"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  17' 15"
4)      Daniel Becke    IBA-GER @  18' 08"
5)      Robert Forster  QST-GER @  18' 44"
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155)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  4h 20' 24" (DFL for the 7th straight time)

STAGE 19

We're supposedly out of the mountains and deep into the race where the leaders position should be safe. But riders continue to attack for individual stage glory. Today's attacks lead to several breaks in the group resulting in individuals small groups leading the main peleton into the finish.

The stage custodian was Mauro Facci with a time of 3h 47' 59". Our race leader, Iker Flores, showed his dominant form by leading in the 1st chase group of three riders at 5'17". Trying to limit his loses, Wim Vansevenant was in the second chase group but gave up 2'20" to Flores. But Vansevenant did take 1'38" from the next chasers which included Daniel Becke (trying to improve his placing as best German) and Brad McGee. The main peleton came in with a 1'09" deficit to Becke's group - 5'07" to Flores.

Despite all this action, the leader board contains the same names. But the time gaps have been adjusted going into Stage 20's TT.

Standings after Stage 19:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 85h 30' 54"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  8'31"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  16'48"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  18'07"
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  4'08'35"

STAGE18

Today's stage included a nasty climb right at the very end. Everything stayed pretty much together until the climb then the big boys came out to play. Today's custodian, sweeping up the course, was Robert Forster as he tried to take a solid lead as the best placed German (2'20" over Daniel Becke). He was chased by a group that included Janeck Tombak who was working hard to compensate for cracking the previous day. Tombak took 46" out of Wim Vansevenant - not enough to jump past him in the standings but if does help to close things up before Saturday's time trial. More important, Tombak took 1'03" out of Knaven to solidify his precarious third place. Iker Flores finished in the same time as Knaven as the time gaps were to small to threaten his overall position. At this point Flores nearly needs to ride defensively in order to carry his guiding lantern into Paris.

1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 81h 48' 12"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @    6' 11"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @   11' 41"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @   13' 00"
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 4h 03' 28"

STAGE 17

Matt White (daily custodian), Fred Rodriguez, Tobias Steinhauser, and Mathias Kessler rode a strong break away at the finish. They were chased by David Arroyo @ 26" and a group of 22 lead appropriately enough by Iker Flores @ 1'41". Of course Flores was putting in the hard turns in order to protect his lead in the overall. This despite the fact that none of the riders in front of him were an immediate threat to his lead. Riders like Wim Vansevenant, Daniel Becke, Laszlo Bodrogi, and Sebastien Joly were able to follow the Flores' lead and remain on the same time. However, Janeck Tombak, Raphael Nuritdinov and Johan Van Summeren lost 1'34" to Flores.

The big loser on the day however had to be erstwhile contender Sebastian Hinault. He of the infamous last name (that claimed 5 DFLs in the 1980s) lost over 27 minutes while finishing fourth last on the stage. This effectively eliminates him from the competition.

Standings after Stage 1&:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 76h 49' 18"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @    6' 09"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @   12' 25"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @   12' 40"
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  3h 53' 23"

STAGE 16

Stage 16 was the last true mountain stage albeit with the stage finish a long way from the last summit. This gave the riders the chance to attack and create gaps but also gave those that were dropped on the ascents to regain some time on the descents. In the end, a group of 36 was lead in by stage custodian (the guy sweeping up the course) Laszlo Bodrogi. This group was chased by a group of 36 at 1'17". I guess it was a good day for groups of 36 unless of course your name was Iker Flores or Janeck Tombak.

You see, two of our podium men had missed the split and came in with the second group. This allowed Wim Vansevenant to tighten his hold on 2nd place and with another good day, he could be within striking distance going into Saturday's TT. In addition, classics rider Servais Knaven moved to within 15" of Tomback's 3rd place. This will definitely put the pressure on Tomback to protect his podium position.

And what of local boy Lance Armstrong? He's now approaching 4 hours behind. What does 4 hours mean you might ask. Well I've ridden the Hotter'n Hell Hundred in less time than Lance's deficit (Okay, so it was a good day with favorable weather and a fast bunch but that's another story.) For the way these men are riding, that puts Lance over 100 miles behind on the flat roads into Paris. At this point I think we can safely say that he's lost all realistic chances of reaching the podium with only 5 stages remaining.

Stage 16 Standings:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  6'09"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  10'51"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  11'06"
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156)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  3h49'57"

STAGE 15

As expected, the attacks came on the many mountain passes ridden on the queen stage of the tour. But the contenders were attentive and chased the moves to the best of their abilities. In the end, a group of 57 hit the finish together taking 46'37" out of George Hincappie (and 41'33" out of DFL Lance Armstrong). The nearest chase group was 53 strong but 8'01" in arrears (Fabian Cancellara did occupy the void at 6'13".)

But what of our leaders? Where were they? Iker Flores was well positioned in third crossing the line - a darn good place to be in order to protect his position. Vansevenant, Knaven, Joly, Tombak, etc were all present in the lead group and received the same time. However, Jalabert, Hinault, and most importantly Van Summeren missed the split and lost the 8'01". That dropped Van Summeren from the podium and moved the others farther from contention. At this late stage, it may be to late to retrieve these losses. As a consolation, Van Summeren is tied with Unai Etxabarria in the points competition with -10 points.

Standings after Stage 15:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  7'26"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  10'51"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  12'23"
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158)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  3h33'05"

STAGE14

Stage fourteen softened up the peleton. The attacks started on the lower slopes of the Port de Pailheres. All the contenders responded immediately and formed the autobus.  Meanwhile T-Mobile, Armstrong, Basso, Jullich, Leipheimer, et al were dropped and left to fend for themselves at the wrong end of the race. But in the end, all the contenders stayed together and the podium remains unchanged while our local boy missed out on another 36 minutes of training. But today is an epic stage that all must survive to move on to Paris.

So the standings after stage 14:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 58h 49' 16"
2)      Johan Van Summeren      DVL-BEL @  6'19"
3)      Wim Vansevenant         DVL-BEL @  7'26"
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160)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h53'59"

STAGE 13

Normally flat stages don't shake up the standings. Breaks often get away from the pack, but generally they are occupied by racers that are not a threat to the overall. And today when Davitamon-Lotto team mates Wim Vansevenant and Johan Van Summeren took flight, we thought that the leaders would let them run but only give them enough leash to move into the top ten. At that point the riders just off the podium would be forced to take the reins and keep the break in check.

But today the leaders were slack in their responsibilities and the Vansomethingorothers started to build up a considerable lead. Eventually Brad McGee took chase followed by Thomas Voeckler and Dario Cioni but it was to little to late. McGee lost 5'29" while Voeckler was 4th on the day at 8'20". And the split peleton lost 10'46" to 11'09" depending on where a rider was located.

This attack shook the podium up as the Vanpolysyllabicbelgiannames shot into second and third in the overall. This was particularly tragic for the french as their best placed rider, Nicolas Jalabert, lost his podium position thus negating a fine Bastille day ride yesterday. But tomorrow brings more hopes as we return to the mountains. More importantly, Sunday's stage looks like a very good route for making a nice attack to grab some time from competitors although care must be taken to not overextend the time.

Standings after stage 13:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 52h 36' 43"
2)      Johan Van Summeren      DVL-BEL @  6'19"
3)      Wim Vansevenant         DVL-BEL @  7'26"
4)      Nicolas Jalabert        PHO-FRA @  9'42"
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161     Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h18'53"

*  Note: Lance Armstrong improved one place as Valverde admitted that he was out of reach of a podium under the control of Iker Flores, took his ball, and went home.

STAGE 12

Strong attacks yet again as we leave the Alps. And the strongest was by - get this - a Frenchman winning the day on Bastille Day!!!! That's right folks, making up for the french disaster occurring at the other end of the race (french riders led my Moncoutie taking three of the four last place spots), Nicolas Jalabert soloed in for an easy win. In fact, Jalabert the younger took 34'33" out of Moncoutie and an even 24 minutes out of the main field which contained our leader.

At a late stage in the race, several riders when out in pursuit of Jalabert including Servais Knaven. Knaven limited his loss to Jalabert to 17'58" thus taking back 6'02" on the overall.  All this action vaulted Jalabert onto the podium and moved Knaven up to "next in line" for greatness. With the Pyrenees coming up next weekend, the race appears to be heating up with the contenders at the fore.

1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 48h 49' 06"
2)      Nicolas Jalabert        PHO-FRA @   9'19"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  10'28"
4)      Servais Knaven          QST-NED @  12'23"
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162)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h 18' 30"

STAGE 11

Much more action today as the riders used the effects of continued mountains to put the leaders under pressure. And the pressure was to great as several riders cracked. For example, Dario Frigo was given a pharmacists note not to start. And three riders including our second placed man, Jean-Patrick Nazon, dropped out. But the most impressive part was were our former DFL rider Jens Voight made such a strong attack that French, in a fit of anti-German sentiment, declared him hors delai and kicked him out of the race for being to strong.

In the mean time, a group of 54 riders, including Daniel Becke and Janeck Tombak, chased Voight (but not to strongly) while dropping Flores and Bessy. In the end they took 8'31" out of our leader (38'31" out of local boy Lance Armstrong and 39'46" out of Vino). Not enough to overtake the top of the podium, but enough to get into contention. In fact, if Nazon had stayed with this group instead of dropping out, he would be within 3 seconds of the lead! But it wasn't to be.

As a side note, Sebastien Joly was placed as high as third through stage 7. Today he finished 137th on the day and lost 23'15" to our leader. This effectively ends his chances at the podium this year.

Standings after Stage 11:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 44h 18' 27"
2)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  10'28"
3)      Daniel Becke            IBA-GER @  12'58"
4)      Rafael Nuritdinov       DOM-UZB @ 16'42"
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167)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h 18' 30"

STAGE 10

Okay, it's a mountain stage. Nice up hill finish. You'd expect something to happen right? Wrong. 51 riders gathered together and took 38'11" out of Valverde and Armstrong. What's up with that? No one seemed to take the chance to grab any time.

So we search for some news...Yellow Jersey Jens Voight finished 67th on the day while limiting his time loss to 4'42". That improved his overall placing from DFL to 102nd. And Lance Armstrong went into the day placed 173rd and came out placed 173rd despite his time loses. And our fourth placed rider, Frederic Bessy missed the split in the peleton thus loosing over 4 minutes and gave up his "almost on the podium" spot to Daniel Becke. Not to exciting eh? So why did we bother with this stage?

Standings after Stage 10)
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 38h 59' 34"
2)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @  8'34"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  18'59"
4)      Daniel Becke            IBA-GER @  21'29"
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173)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @ 1h 48' 30"

STAGE 9

Five quick withdrawals today reduced the filed to 175. Of course not everyone of the 175 is a contender. For example, local transplant Lance Armstrong improved to 173rd, but can we seriously call him a contender?

But what of today's honors? Daniel Becke put in a good attack out of the gruppetto, taking 6'40" from the bunch, to take the stage honors. He was chased by a group of 7 (six were Domina Vicanze riders and Laszlo Bodrogi!!!) that was able to keep him at 4'55". What a break that must have been to hold off a motivated team working with a former world TT champ. Meanwhile at the other end of the field, Michael Rasmussen lost 25'46" as he tumbled down the standings to 172nd while the autobus lost 19'42".

Today's finishing moves helped to propel two Domina riders, Nuritdinov and Vanotti, well up in the standings but they are still not podium material. And Daniel Becke climbed to 5th but still has some work to do if he wants the podium in Paris. But the big chance was caused by three of the first four riders (Zabriskie, Kirsipuu, and Pagliarini) abandoning the chase. I guess they felt that the pressure of catching Iker Flores was just to great. However, it was Flores that cracked on the day loosing 4'49" to the main peleton and 11'29" to Becke. So despite the abandons, not all the riders have given up the chase.

Standings after stage 9:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 33h30'48"
2)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @   8'34"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  18'59"
4)      Frederic Bessy          COF-FRA @  20'18"
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175)    Jens Voight             CSC-GER @  1h12'25"

Tomorrow is a rest day so the standings won't change.

STAGE 8

When the first mountain stages occur, we expect big changes as the pretenders fall back and the contenders come to the fore. Big changes today and the mountains don't start until tomorrow! Today only had some cat 3 climbs early and a single cat 2 near the end*. Tomorrow starts the real climbing. But we had changes today in the standings none the less.

So what happened today? Hmmmmm, where to start? How about "Lance Armstrong improves his placing by five to 180th"? Yes, five more riders failed to reach the finish with Mengin and Honchar (some transliterations have it as Gonchar) DNS and three others DNFs.

What else? Hmmmm, last place for the first few stages, David Zabriskie, made some serious moves today. He was the best placed finisher on the day grabbing 51'12" from Pieter Weening and Andreas Kloden (plus Weening's 20" and Kloden's 12" time penalties), 2'08" from Pagliarini (remember Luxembourg a couple of years ago when he was in last place?), 5'07" from Flores, etc. In fact the last letter of the western alphabet took 25'27" from the autobus!!! This does not bode well for the big Zed as that much time on one stage typically indicates a problem that will keep him from reaching Paris. And if you can't reach Paris you cannot win.

So what of the overall standings? Well Iker Flores moves into first while yesterday's leader, Janeck Tombak, drops to 6th. But Flores is being chased hard by Zabriskie. Pagliarini and Kirsipuu are the only other riders remaining within 10 minutes of the leader. However based upon today's times, this observer is putting his money on 5th placed Jean-Patrick Nazon. Nazon is a proven contender that can stay within the time limits of the mountains while the 4 riders in front of him are showing signs of being booted before Paris. And after all, I could win the competition, but they couldn't afford to keep a race official around at the finishes long enough to find out how much I was winning by (thus the time limits). So here it is:

Standings after Stage 8:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP
2)      David Zabriskie         CSC-USA @ 41"
3)      Luciano Pagliarini      LIQ-BRA @ 5'06"
4)      Jaan Kirsipuu           CA-EST  @ 8'38"
5)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @ 13'23"
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180)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @ 1h01'54"


* Two months ago in Italy, the Giro went over the Passo Del Diablo. That week, we were staying in the Hotel Fillipone in Gioia de Marsi at the foot of the Passo Del Diablo. The Passo is rated as a cat 2 although the Giro rankings are different than the tour (TIOOTYK) rankings. My best time up the pass was ~48 minutes. Of course that was straight out of the hotel parking lot with no warm up. With a warm up I might have been ~45:00 and in better shape, maybe the low 40s. The scheduled Giro stage had the Passo Del Diablo for 22 to 25 minutes. Ooftah!!! So much for dreams of hanging with the autobus.

STAGE 7

Well, the first semi hilly finish combined with a last minute attempt at redemption created havoc on the standings. The havoc can be seen in the daily standings where Jan Kirsipuu (all day contender for last place) was place 64th on the day with a 26'16" deficit while 63rd was Sylvain Chavanel with only a 24'38" deficit. And Christophe Mengin, who sat out the sprint for last place was 59th at 26'23" while Allan Davis was 53rd at 26'16" while the 54th rider, Stephane Auge, made up for his early breakaway by losing only 24'13".
Ah, but that's only the mix ups caused by the last kilometer crash. The top placers were well clear of the mess with Steve Zampieri taking a whopping 13'29" out of second place Sebastien Joly and 26'23" from stage loser Lorenzo Bernucci. So what does this do to our over all standings? Well, the done got shook up as well.

Our top spot is now held by Steve Zampieri with a solid 11'08" lead over 2nd place Janeck Tombak. And Sebastien Joly has vaulted into 3rd albeit with a 3" margin over the fourth place rider Iker Flores. So our standings after stage 6:

1) Steve Zampieri       PHO-SUI 18h30'11"
2)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST @ 11'08"
3)  Sevastien Joly      CA-FRA  @ 15'41"
4)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 15'44"
5)  Alessandro Vanotti DOM-ITA  @ 15'48"
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187) Lance Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 32'00"

STAGE 6

Well, the first semi hilly finish combined with a last minute attempt at redemption created havoc on the standings. The havoc can be seen in the daily standings where Jan Kirsipuu (all day contender for last place) was place 64th on the day with a 26'16" deficit while 63rd was Sylvain Chavanel with only a 24'38" deficit. And Christophe Mengin, who sat out the sprint for last place was 59th at 26'23" while Allan Davis was 53rd at 26'16" while the 54th rider, Stephane Auge, made up for his early breakaway by losing only 24'13".
Ah, but that's only the mix ups caused by the last kilometer crash. The top placers were well clear of the mess with Steve Zampieri taking a whopping 13'29" out of second place Sebastien Joly and 26'23" from stage loser Lorenzo Bernucci. So what does this do to our over all standings? Well, the done got shook up as well.

Our top spot is now held by Steve Zampieri with a solid 11'08" lead over 2nd place Janeck Tombak. And Sebastien Joly has vaulted into 3rd albeit with a 3" margin over the fourth place rider Iker Flores. So our standings after stage 6:

1) Steve Zampieri       PHO-SUI 18h30'11"
2)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST @ 11'08"
3)  Sevastien Joly      CA-FRA  @ 15'41"
4)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 15'44"
5)  Alessandro Vanotti DOM-ITA  @ 15'48"
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187) Lance Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 32'00"

STAGE 5

Today was a typical flat stage. Not much happened until the late attacks. Today the attack led to a successful break away by Janeck Tombak. Tombak jumped clear and was chased by a couple of others. But Tombak remained clear tot he end taking 1'10" from his closest pursuer, Wim Vansevenant, and 2'21" from the peleton. That was enough to move Tombak into first overall as the other contenders missed the move entirely.

And what of the last place rider Lance Armstrong? He improved his placing today as well. Oh, he did loose time by finishing in the same time as the peleton, but he did improve from 189th to 188th place. This was caused by our first abandon as Constantino Zaballa caved in to the pressure of chasing the fabled Lanterne Rouge.

Standings after Stage 5:
1)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST 13h 58' 25"
2)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 47"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 51"
4)  Iker Camano EUS-ESP @ 57"
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188)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @ 13'13"

STAGE 4

As expected, the team time trial provided some shuffling of the overall standings. However, as the tour organizers have limited the time gains that can be made by riders finishing with their teams, the individual challengers have stepped up to find time within the rules. For example, the AG2R riders should have taken 17" out of Saunier Duval-Prodir and 5'23" from the Disco Channel. However, the rules limited the team to 5" from Saunier Duval and 3 minutes from the team formerly known as the team formerly known as Motorola (would they still be Motorola or would they be Freescale?).

But back to individual glory. If one finishes behind the team, one gets an individual time. This fact is so well known to our contenders. So well known in fact that our erstwhile last place rider, David Zabriskie, decided that his best tactic was to sit down and take a rest break about 1 mile from the finish. Unfortunately David doesn't have the ability to properly time his rest breaks. He got up much to early and rode in well in behind the placings he could have gotten if he had been calmer and more relaxed. But in honor of his attempt at glory, we will mention that he improved his placing from last to 180th. That's not much but 5% compounded daily . . . . .

But what of the real stage winners you ask? Well, let's bring up TTT power house Euskatel-Euskadi. They pulled a one-two with Iker Flores - Iker Camano double. Iker Flores (I guess it was a good day to be named Iker) grabbed a full 9'31" from the Disco boys while Camano got 9'29" from the dancers. Robert Flores was third on the day with Alessandro Vanotti in fourth. Some perannual favorites also tried for time today.  Bessy, Hinault, Auge...they were all grabbing for time. But the honors have to stay with the Basque team with a nice double shot at the podium. However, they must be careful as Vanotti holds the middle step within striking distance of the lead.

Standings after stage 4 (TTT)
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 10h 11' 14"
2)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 4"
3)      Iker Camano     EUS-ESP @ 10"
4)      Robert Forster  OST-GER @ 1'16"
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189     Wannabe Armstrong       DSC-USA @ 12'26

STAGE 3

As with yesterday's flat stage, today's stayed pretty much all together until the run in. At that time, a few riders took late flyers to attempt to garner a few seconds. The first to take flight was Contantino Zaballa who grabbed 1'38" from the hard charging peleton. He was chased in a fit of "to little, to late" by Michael Albasni (@ 1'14") and perennial favorite Sebastien Hinault (@ 1'18"). Hinault was able to move into third overall with his late attack while Zaballa jumped to second thus giving his team, Sauner Duval-Prodir, a potent 1-2 punch at the top of the standings.

Of course tomorrow's Team Time Trial will give the contenders a chance to distance the pretenders.  Such TTT power house's as Euskatel-Euskadi, Lampre, AG2R, and Sauner Duval should easily take time from wannabees like Discovery, Phonak, CSC, and T-Mobile. Of course the tour organizers have seen fit to limit the amount of time that a rider can gain in the TTT. For example, even if you drop off the back of your team and solo in within the time limit, you can only gain something like 7 minutes. This should prevent huge time gains although the riders must be careful to finish within the time limits or face elimination. However, we do expect some shake up in the standings tomorrow. If Sauner Duval-Prodir can put in a stellar effort, they could solidify the top two spots for several more days.

Standings after Stage 3:
1)  Leonardo Piepoli            SDV-ITA 8h 53' 11"
2)  Constantino Zaballa SVD-ITA @ 7"
3)  Sebastien Hinault           CA-FRA  @ 23"
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189) David Zabriskie            CSC-USA @ 4'40"

STAGE 2

As often happens on the flat early stages, nothing of importance occurs until the end. Today was no exception as the peleton mostly rode together with the exception of four inDUHviduals who were out front fighting for virtual last place on the road. But these riders came back into the fold and during the run in to the finish, three riders slipped off the back of the peleton to grab some one day glory and a few seconds on the bunch. The days' honors went to Wim Vansevenant followed his teammate Leon Van Bon of Davitamon-Lotto. That was a good move as the Davitamon-Lotto team nearly bracketed the field with Robbie McEwen finishing 3rd last on the stage. The Davitamon-Lotto boys were joined by Quickstep's Stefano Zanini who was obviously making up for the egregious error of his teammate Tom Boonen (last on the day). And were was our leader during all of this? He was carefully monitoring his overall position by finishing 6th on the day (3rd in the peleton).

The time gaps were smaller than yesterday with Vansevenant taking 47 seconds on the peleton - 8 seconds on Van Bon. Zanini held his loss to Vansevenant to 11 seconds. However, Zanini's time gap over the peleton (36 seconds) could prove decisive in the next few days as he vaulted from 27th to fourth. Zanini is now a mere 59 seconds behind Leonardo Piepoli. Leon Van Bon improved dramatically with this late move as he jumped from 92nd to 18th (@ 1'25" and overtaking pretender Iban Mayo). And stage winner Vansevenant jumped from 57th to 8th (@ 1'04")

So the standings after Stage 2:

1)  Leonardo Piepoli    SDV-ITA 4h17'02"
2)  Rafael Nuritdinov   DOM-UZB @ 50"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 56"
4)  Stefano Zanini      QST-ITA @ 59"
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189)  David Zabriskie   CSC-USA @ 4'40"

STAGE 1

In recent years, the Tour (TIOOYK) has begun with a prologue time trial. This was originally done to circumvent a rule limiting the number of stages in a race. The Tour no longer has that issue but they maintained a tradition of a prologue. Not this year though.

After years of suffering with many pretenders being highly placed after the prologue, they extended today's time trial to a more difficult 19 km. Think 1989 for example when 1988's last place rider, Pedro Delgado won the prologue by starting over 2 minutes late only to slip away to 136th out of 138 finishers. In a longer time trial, perhaps he wouldn't have been placed so well. Thus we get the intended change to help separate the wheat from the chaff as soon as possible.

And today lived up to early expectations as many pretenders to the throne fell by the way side. David Zabriskie, Lance Armstrong, Alexandre Vinokourov, Floyd Landis, Jan Ullrich - all pushed way down the standings. Today's honors were taken by Leonardo Piepoli who rode a mere 44.68 km/hr while Zabriskie was loosing massive time at 54.67 km/hr. In fact, Piepoli lead at both time checks in order to not leave the issue in doubt.

Piepoli's nearest rivals Domina Vicanze teammates Rafael Nuritdinov and Alessandro Vanotti (leader of the young rider competition). Slotting into 4th is perennial contender Sebastian Hinault while 5th was Axel Merckx obviously trying to make up for the transgressions of his father.

We can expect some amount of shake up over the next few days as riders go out on the attack trying to take early time. However, these are often vain attempts at glory by riders that don't have the fortitude to make it to Paris. In fact, Piepoli's performance was so dominating that we have to wonder if he has the staying power to make it to Paris (although Piepoli is a bit of a climber). And as we know, only your position in Paris counts. So we don't expect see many contenders again until the mountains.


Standings
1)  Leonardo Piepoli    ITA-SDP 25'31"
2)  Rafael Nuritdinov   UZB-DOM @ 50"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  ITA-DOM @ 56"
4)  Sebastian Hinault   FRA-CA  @ 1'03"
5)  Axel Merckx BEL-DVL @ 1'03"
6)  Karsten Kroon       NED-RAB @ 1'04"
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189) David Zabriskie    USA-CSC @ 4'40"

Posted by Violet Crown on July 24, 2005 at 04:25 PM in Columnists | Permalink

Comments

it was HOT///I rode with the Cat 4's that morning and WOW was it fast going to the first hill on 211----blistering and splintering----I ended up with some big guys from houston SWCC with a tight pace staying between 23 and 27 most of the time then that fizzled going into san geronimo---
after many many personal changes i finally am getting to ride more and i hope to help and inpire those VC guys who race the Masters during the July Series.....lets ROCK!

Posted by: craig harley at Jul 6, 2005 8:45:03 AM

it was HOT///I rode with the Cat 4's that morning and WOW was it fast going to the first hill on 211----blistering and splintering----I ended up with some big guys from houston SWCC with a tight pace staying between 23 and 27 most of the time then that fizzled going into san geronimo---
after many many personal changes i finally am getting to ride more and i hope to help and inpire those VC guys who race the Masters during the July Series.....lets ROCK!

Posted by: craig harley at Jul 6, 2005 8:46:06 AM

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