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87th Tour de France - Grand Tour France, July 1 - 23, 2000

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Tour News for July 13

11 down, 10 to go - it's still a long way to Paris

By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Ten stages remain until the finish of the 2000 Tour De France in Paris on July 23. Many observers, like Italian champion Michele Bartoli (Mapei) believe that "(Lance) Armstrong is already in another category; the Tour is already won (for him)," as he told Pier Bergonzi of La Gazzetta Dello Sport. But Lance has another opinion; one he shared with Samuel Abt of the International Herald Tribune. "Everybody is still in this race; there are two weeks to go. They (the competition) won't give up until Paris," Armstrong told Abt. "There are still a lot of mountains. There's still a lot that can happen." That's true; an untimely mechanical incident, an unlucky fall, "le jour sans" (a day when one's legs just don't show up to ride; AKA toast)

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Lance Armstrong has an excellent chance to ride into Paris clad in le Maillot Jaune for the second consecutive year. First of all, the weather for the first 11 stages of the Tour 2000 has been uncharacteristic; cool, windy and certainly in favor of Armstrong, who thrives on cooler temps and extreme conditions. There are still 160 riders in the race and despite the fast average speeds so far, there are fewer abandons than expected at this point. Adverse weather did affect the stage 4 TTT and stage 7 from Tour to Limoges, and the usual grand chaleur (hot weather) across the south west of France has not been there. Generally speaking, the windy, cool and sometimes rainy weather this summer in France has been merde for the tourists and tough for the Tour. This pattern is expected to continue on Stage 12 to Le Mont Ventoux and frankly speaking, Mother Nature is not one of the most predictable factors on Planet Earth!

Secondly, to win the Tour, Armstrong's competitors have to attack him and his USPS team. Who will attack Le Maillot Jaune Armstrong? Certainly the near-hysterical Richard Virenque will seek not only to get his coveted Maillot Pois climber's jersey back, where he may have finally met his match in talented Javi Otxoa of Kelme. Virenque has, as usual made inchoate rumblings about attacking Lance and USPS in the Alps, but few take him seriously.

More importantly, Erik Zabel (Telekom) intimated in a French TV interview after Stage 11 that Telekom would go on the attack in the Alps. Perhaps they will team up with Pantani's Mercatone Uno and the powerful Kelme team to ride in a combine, but as our pressroom compatriot Pietro Cabras of Corriere dello Sport, winner of the top Italian cycling journalism prize in '99 told us, "that's a myth (a combine)...that has never really existed in cycling." We agree; it's dog eat dog out there on the roads of Le Tour De France and it's every man for himself. So it's doubtful if 2 or more teams would have enough common interest and desire to combine against Lance Armstrong and his USPS team.

Thirdly, where will the attacks come? Surely on Thursday's Ventoux stage: It's a tough climb up to the to of the 1909m. extinct volcano and with the adverse weather conditions, the climbers will again be compromised. Perhaps Telekom will try a surprise attack on Stage 13 across the Vaucluse and Var, before the long mountain stage 14 on Saturday, 15 July. But most likely, any attacks that might crack Armstrong will come on Stage 16 to Courchevel, the 2000m, 19km climb (at 8%) of the Col de la Madeleine is the likely spot to go. Will Jan Ullrich try to make a move to bring back time on Lance? Will Pantani go long in quest of a podium slot? In addition, after a rest day in Courchevel, Stage 16 from Courchevel to Morzine offers other ample opportunities to go after Lance and USPS. However, if the competition doesn't succeed in taking major time from Armstrong, the American can go into the final time trial on Friday 21 July with the certainty that he can ride well against the clock.

In the final analysis, Le Tour De France 2000 is not won until the last rider crosses le Champs Elysees on Sunday 23 July. But Armstrong's extraordinary performance on Monday's Stage 10 went a long way towards putting this year's Tour De France Sevres vase on his trophy shelf back home in Austin, Texas. Right next to the one from last year.

Ullrich still believes

The Tour's second placed rider overall, Jan Ullrich (Telekom) still believes that he can win, according to a press conference given on the rest day. Currently he is 4.14 behind Lance Armstrong on the General Classification, and didn't look in good shape after finishing stage 10 to Hautacam on Monday in 13th position. He rode for an hour and a half on the rest day and gave some of his thoughts afterward.

He said that he should have ridden his own race on that day, and not tried to copy Lance Armstrong. However, he knows that the American will be tough to beat "It is certain that if he continues like that, it will be hard," he said, adding that "it remains to be seen whether he is as good in hot weather as he is in cold weather."

Ullrich said that the podium in Paris remains a target, "but the dream is to win the yellow jersey." After Monday, it seems that Armstrong is the only one who can stop him realising that objective. "At the moment, no-one can go past Armstrong. But perhaps he has come into form too early and he will have a bad day. We will see. The Tour still goes for nearly another two weeks, and the four Alpine stages will be very hard."

However, Ullrich also rates Alex Zülle, Richard Virenque and Fernando Escartin as challengers, but not Marco Pantani, who "does not have any more role to play in the General Classification."

If he can make some time on Armstrong in the coming mountain stages, he may be able to close the gap sufficiently to nail it in the last time trial from Freibourg to Mulhouse (58.5 km) on stage 19. He claims he is healthy and not tired, and has a strong team. Walter Godefroot put it succinctly that there were just two chances to beat Armstrong: "If he loses form or his team."

The press conference on Wednesday also saw Ullrich answer a few critics about his winter weight gain. "I finished winter with 5 kilos of excess. Indurain came out of winter with ten kilos in excess and he won five Tours," he finished.

Armstrong will improvise

Lance Armstrong told AFP that he would "improvise" on Mont Ventoux, the climb where he suffered (a little) during the Dauphine Libere earlier last month. "For me the Ventoux is the hardest mountain of the Tour this year. It is on the whole, quite a special climb - I refer to Tom Simpson's death there in 1967."

"It's a lunar landscape there. You have the feeling, as if you have no air to breathe. It is a really strange feeling. On this climb, you can make a big impression if you feel good. But if you don't, you can also lose a lot. I don't have anything special planned. I will improvise."

Millar fears

The first wearer of the yellow jersey in this year's Tour, Dave Millar said that he's dreading today's Mont Ventoux climb. The Malta born time trialist is currently 31st on GC, although he put in another good performance to finish 4th in stage 11.

"I know all about it. I hate it," said Millar to Reuters. "It's my worst time on the Tour de France. I went up it twice last year, it's really hard, one of the hardest climbs I know. It's the same gradient all the way and there are no corners. And the heat, it's horrible."

He won't have his full team to support him either, as Frank Vandenbroucke, Laurent Desbiens, and Laurent Lefèvre are all out of the race. The weather might be cooler though.

Throat stops Wüst from more success

Festina's German sprinter, and cyclingnews.com's inside reporter, Marcel Wüst has decided not to ride any further in the Tour de France. He is suffering a sore throat and fever.

"If it hadn't been for the rest day I would have stepped off already on Tuesday," he said Wednesday. "Today I can not ride at all and one has to be sensible. Why should I start If I won't make the time limit anyway? It is sad to leave the first real Tour de France I have ridden. But I believe that it has been a successful Tour anyway. And I also have the Vuelta in front of me."

Last time Wüst started in the tour was in 1992 when he fell and broke the collarbone on the first stage in San Sebastian. Last year the same happened three weeks before the Tour. This year's stage win, on the fifth stage ahead of compatriot and arch rival Erik Zabel, was to Wüst a dream come true.

Wüst will now stay with his visiting family in Avignon some days before he heads back to Cologne with one stage victory, two seconds, four days in the climbers jersey and two in the green points jersey to his record. La Vuelta a España is the next race, but he dares not hope for an Olympic ticket yet. "It's strange, I haven't heard anything from the German cycling federation on the matter," he said.

Jalabert doubtful

After receiving yet another pounding on a critical stage of the Tour de France, ONCE's Laurent Jalabert has resigned himself to the fact that he will never win the Tour. He gave an interview with L'Equipe, where he said "Winning the Tour? It's finished for me. Eight minutes - I can never make that up. For me to win the Tour would take an unprecedented run of luck - like an earthquake!"

Although he has won just about every other major race on the calendar, including the Vuelta, the World Time Trial Championships, Milan-San Remo and Paris-Nice (twice), the Tour has always been too much. The best place he has managed was 4th, in 1995 although he held the yellow jersey for some time.

He believes that this will be his last serious attempt on winning the Tour, and possibly his last Tour full stop. He gained confidence from the media and the crowds but when the road went up to Hautacam, the reality set in.

Martini compares Armstrong to Coppi

The Italian national coach Alfredo Martini thinks that Lance Armstrong resembles of Fausto Coppi: To find a rider with that capability you must go far back in time. Armstrong in the Pyrenees reminds me of Fausto Coppi when he blew the race apart up the Alpe d'Huez. He must be in an exceptional form to be able to keep that rhythm all the way up the Hautacam."

Martini is less impressed by his own compatriot Marco Pantani: "It shouldn't be possible to lose five minutes in ten kilometres even to the American. Marco made a big mistake attacking so early."

Press more positive this year

Last year's battle between Lance Armstrong and the French Press nearly became greater than the race itself (Alex who?), after he took the yellow jersey in the Metz time trial, and increased his lead on the stage to Sestriere. The French press refused to believe it, someone who they had written off after suffering from cancer could actually come back and lead, and subsequently win the toughest cycling race on earth. "He must be on drugs," was repeated time and time again. When Armstrong was caught using a topical skin cream which contained traces of corticoids, he was declared a cheat although the level was too low to be illegal. The story is well worn now.

This year, it appears that those who had lambasted him in 1999 have a different tune. For example: "Armstrong scatters them" (L'Equipe); "The Armstrong rocket takes off in the Pyrenees" (La Depeche); "To Otxoa the glory, to Armstrong the power" (Aujourd'hui en France); "Armstrong, Knight of the apocalypse(!)" (Le Figaro); "Armstrong in orbit" (La Republique). This list is not exhaustive.

The following is a quote from L'Equipe: "Champions are a breed apart, outside the common. It's as if they aren't made of the same flesh. And this sentiment is even stronger in a sport like cycling where the triumphs as well as the defeats are so brilliant. ... One doesn't know yet if Lance Armstrong will win his second Tour de France in a row on July 23rd. But we know in any case that this man truly has something extra. It's the mark of a champion."

Not having to deal with the animosity of the press may make Armstrong's quest for yellow somewhat easier this year.

Move or be moved for the press

The press centre for the twelfth stage at Mont Ventoux will be moved from the mountain top finish down to the starting point at Carpentras. The gale force winds make it dangerous to put up the huge tent used as press room during the Tour.

"Winds on the mountain were at more than 130 kph today. It would not be safe to have 100 journalists in a tent up there under those conditions," press director Philippe Sudres said Wednesday.

Weather not as bad on race day

The wind force was expected to drop a little from Wednesday to Thursday but winds at 80 kph could be expected as well as temperatures at six degrees Celsius. The French weather has been unusually bad this July. Alpine passes have been closed due to snow, among them the Galibier which is expected to be one of the decisive passages at this Tour. For the time being it is open however.

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