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87th Tour de France - Grand Tour

France, July 1 - 23, 2000

Tour News for July 20

Pantani out with stomach bug

Marco Pantani, winner of two stages in this year's Tour de France did not start in today's 155 km stage from Evian-Les-Bains to Lausanne. The Pirate suffered yesterday during the stage from Courchevel to Morzine, eventually losing over 13 minutes to winner, Richard Virenque.

He left this morning for his home town of Cesenatico. "I couldn't go any further. I'm completely empty," he said. He was advised to stop by his Mercatone Uno team doctor Magni.

The reason for his his withdrawal was stomach problems, caused by "drinking cold water with sugar during the Alpine stages."

He feels like he has had a good Tour, but felt that he overdid it yesterday at the foot of the last climb, and rode tempo. Pantani has now shed himself of his devils, although he thought that the old Pantani could have won that stage.

Lucien Van Impe, a former winner of the Tour in 1976 (and a brilliant climber) and now a Belgian TV commentator commented that Pantani was not at 100%, more like 80% of his form. Had he had more training he may well have exploded the peloton on some of the earlier stages.

Pantani's abandonment came as well as today's departure of Alex Zülle (Banesto) who has been suffering from a virus for the past week. The Banesto squad were one of two teams with a full compliment of nine riders. The other one is the US Postal team with the Maillot Jaune, Lance Armstrong. Of 180 (177) starters, there are now just 130 left in the race.

We are not amused

One rider who was not disappointed to see Pantani depart was Lance Armstrong, who said before the stage "Elefantino has gone home...he is not my brother. I will never forget what he has done," said Armstrong still smarting from the Pirate's Mont Ventoux victory.

Pantani had previously said that the win was not a gift from Armstrong, despite the American being the stronger rider on the day. "Perhaps he was surprised at the finish because there was no banner because of the wind? I don't know. In any case, he should not expect that I return the favour," were his comments at the time after being towed to the top.

After that stage, Pantani went on the attack to win two more, before his reserves were finally exhausted yesterday. Perhaps he knew his limits and wanted to give Armstrong and the others a final blast before pulling out?

Johan Bruyneel was not particularly impressed by Pantani's excuse, as he'd claimed he was sick the day before. "I don't understand how he could attack all day. He didn't attack to win the stage or to improve his classification, but only to embarrass US Postal," said Bruyneel to Associated Press.

Bernard Hinault echoed the sentiment, saying before today's stage that "if someone attacks like they did on Tuesday morning, then they are not sick. Afterwards, they should not seek excuses."

Blood tests clean again

Thirteen mandatory blood test controls were were carried out this morning, including the top 9 on the general classification. The UCI doctors visited cyclists from the US Postal, Telekom, Festina, Kelme, Polti and Banesto teams. All were clean.

Palmares of Richard Virenque

Polti's winner of stage 16 has a total of 35 races in his 10 year career. He started in 1991 with RMO, and has been more well known for his KOM jerseys rather than his other wins. This year, he was not quite in the running for the Polka Dot jersey, and will have to settle for a top 10 placing on the General Classification in addition to his stage win.

1991 (RMO): 0 wins
1992: 2 wins
1993 (Lotus-Festina): 1 (stage in Tour of Limousin)
1994 (Festina): 6 (incl. stage in Route du Sud and stage in Tour de France -
5th in final classification and KOM winner)
1995: 6 (incl. 2 stages in Dauphiné Libéré and 1 stage in the Tour - 9th in
final classification and KOM winner)
1996: 5 (incl. one stage in Dauphiné Libéré and one stage in Tour of
Piemonte. 3rd in final classification in the Tour and KOM winner.)
1997: 7 (incl. GP La Marseillaise and stage in the Tour. 2nd in final classification and
KOM winner)
1998: 3 (incl. stage in Dauphiné Libéré)
1999 (Polti): 4 (incl. stage in Giro. 8th in the Tour and KOM winner)
2000: 1 stage in the Tour

Heras' crash

Kelme's Roberto Heras fell at the death in stage 16 when he rode into the barriers. There is a special irony in his misfortune for Dutch fans, as Heras is the name of a fence factory... For more, look at www.heras.nl. A possible sponsorship deal there?

In spite of this, Kelme certainly have had a fantastic Tour de France this year, with their team of climbers always setting an attacking pace in the mountains. With Botero and Otxoa are 1-2 in the KOM classification, and Botero is second (just) in the most combative rider classification. The team are currently leading the teams competition, and have certainly 'repaid' their wildcard entry.

Guesdon vs. Deer

Speaking of crashes... La Francaise des Jeux's Frederic Guesdon has been the victim of one crash already in this year's Tour after he fell heavily during stage eight. His latest incident though was with a deer on stage 16 to Morzine. Apparently after they collided, the deer broke its neck but Guesdon broke nothing but his bike. He didn't even fall!

No Dutch crits for Armstrong

Criterium organiser Gerrie van Gerwen could not manage to persuade Maillot Jaune Lance Armstrong to attend one of the many Post-Tour criteriums in the Netherlands. His latest attempt in Courchevel on Monday night wasn't successful. "Armstrong thinks the criteriums in Holland are not good for his preparation for Sydney," said Gerwen.

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