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87th Tour de France - Grand Tour

France, July 1 - 23, 2000

Tour News for July 8

O'Grady may be back within two weeks

Despite his severe disappointment at crashing out of the Tour de France yesterday with a broken collarbone, Credit Agricole's Stuart O'Grady may be able to train in as little as two weeks. In the morning before the stage start in Tours, O'Grady was driven to Bordeaux hospital, where the collarbone will be pinned up after an operation.

"I've just seen the doctor and he's decided to operate to pin my right collar bone," said O'Grady on his way to hospital. "The x-rays show there's a chunk of bone gone missing from where it's supposed to be so they'll take that out as well when they operate."

He is expected to be in hospital for several days and his parents, who were following the race, are now travelling to Bordeaux to be with their son.

"We'll spend at least next two nights with Stuey," said Brian O'Grady who along with his wife Fay is relieved their son is not seriously injured.

"Even so it was heartbreaking to see him get off his bike yesterday because I was thinking 'this is good, he's on his bike' and was assuming everything was okay," said Mr O'Grady. "Then I saw the look on his face and the way he had to hold his arm and shoulder when he got off his bike and my heart just sank."

Stuart praised the fact that he'd been wearing a helmet, as a crack on the skull could have aggravated the problems he faced over the past 9 months. His mugging in Toulouse last year caused him to have seizures for a long period afterwards, and he needed medication to overcome these.

With respect to his collarbone, he believes he will be able to train again in as little as 10 days if the surgery goes according to plan. This means that his focus on the Olympics will become much greater, as the Green jersey in the Tour is now no longer possible.

Regarding the crash, teammate Magnus Backstedt recalled what happened afterward. He said that there was a group of people playing drums on the side of the road, and someone in the bunch mistook this for a crash. A chain reaction occurred, and with the speed and the proximity of the riders to each other, a large hole was created in the peloton. Another rider who was caught up in the accident was Rafael Mateos (Polti) who did not finish the stage, meaning that his team are now down to seven riders.

Wüst The Winning Machine

After his victory in stage 5, cyclingnews.com correspondent Marcel Wüst (Festina) has now won stages in all the Grand tours, as well as over 100 (!) career pro wins:

1989 [RMO]; 4 victories.
1990: 3 (incl. 1stage in Tour of Burgos)
1991: 10 (incl. 2 stages in Route du Sud).
1992: 12 (incl. 4 stages in Route du Sud, 1 in Midi Libre and 1 in Tour de l'Avenir)
1993 [Histor]: 7 (incl. stage in Vuelta Catalonia and stage in Tour of Burgos)
1994: 2 (incl. stage in Dauphine Libere)
1995 [Le Groupement/Castellblanch]: 12 (incl. 3 stages in the Vuelta)
1996 [MX Onda]: 12 (incl. 1 stage in Vuelta Catalonia)
1997 [Festina]: 12 (incl. stage in Route du Sud, stage in Giro, stage in Tour of Burgos and 3 stages in the Vuelta)
1998: 17 (incl. stage in Tour of van Burgos and 2 stages in the Vuelta)
1999: 16 (incl. 2 stages in the Tour of Aragon, 1 stage in Tour of BUrgos and 4 stages in the Vuelta)
2000: 7 (Incl. stage in Tour of Aragon, stage in Tour of Germany and stage in Tour de France)

Agnulotto's record:

The day's stage winner Christophe Agnolutto might not be as impressive as Wüst, but they've all been won in high ranked races:

1996 [Casino]: 0 victories
1997: 4 including stage and overall winner of the Tour du Suisse
1998: 1, stage in the Tour of Romandie
1999: 0 2000 [AG2R]: 1, stage in the Tour

Q&A with Robbie McEwen

Farm Frites sprinter, Robbie McEwen shares that role with Dutch powerhouse Jans Koerts. After an ordinary start to this year, McEwen seems to be finding his legs a little in the Tour. He has posted a few top 5 finishes, and won the bunch sprint for 13th in stage 6. Can he repeat his victory on the Champs Elysees of 1999? We'll have to wait and see, but it is pretty obvious what McEwen is here for.

CN: What are your personal ambitions?

RM: To win a stage.

CN: Which stages are you looking forward to, where will you try to achieve those ambitions?

RM: All the flat stages when it's a sprint I'll do my best to win.

CN: Why did you choose these stages?

RM: I can't climb, I can't time trial but can go fast at the end of a flat stage!

CN: How many times have you ridden in the Tour, and what is different this time from the first time you entered the race?

RM: This is my 4th Tour (97,98,99,2000). I finished the other three. I have more experience in the Tour now, more confidence in the sprints and I've learnt what I have to do to make it to Paris. That is - conserve energy if I'm not going for the win.

CN: Have you changed as a rider since then?

RM: Not much no. Maybe a little stronger overall but basically the same.

CN: Do you feel that the race is growing more popular or do you think all the scandals has put a shadow over it?

RM: It seems that although a lot of media have done their best to put our sport in a bad light, the Tour is as popular as ever with young and old.

CN: What is your opinion on the new tests they hope to use in a soon future?

RM: I welcome them. As long as they are foolproof which I'm not convinced of. They should make sure sufficient research has been done before they use these tests that could effectively ruin careers with a false positive result.

CN: Are you using anything new (equipment etc.) during the race?

RM: Nothing new really. New clothing, sunglasses etc. One thing - our tyre sponsor Continental smeared this liquid on the tyres on our time trial bikes that is supposed to decrease rolling resistance and should have saved us nearly 2 minutes in the TTT. I didn't notice the difference and we were 17th, 5:30 minutes behind the winner.

CN: Who do you think will win?

RM: Ullrich!

Alberto Elli is the oldest Tour leader

Age undaunted
Photo: © AFP

The current wearer of the yellow jersey, Alberto Elli is the oldest leader of the Tour in the post war period. He is 36 years and 4 months old. He is currently ranked 42nd on the UCI scale, with a total of 22 victories in his 14 year career. He turned pro in 1987 with the Remac team, and in that year came second in the Italian national championships. One of his most successful races is the Tour of Luxembourg, in which he has won three stages and the overall classification twice, including this year.

The previous oldest yellow jersey wearer was Frederico Bahamontes (Spain), who was 35 when he wore it.

Oldest yellow jersey wearers

1. Elli (Ita, 36 years, yellow in 2000)
2. Bahamontes (Spa, 35, 1963)
3. Bartali (Ita, 35, 1949)
4. Lubberding (Ned, 34, 1988)
5. Zoetemelk (Ned, 33, 1980)
6. Darrigade (Fra, 33, 1962)
7. Riis (Den, 32, 1996)

The Rabobank bus

Tour riders like to travel in comfort when not on the bike, slogging out out for 6 hours each day. The Dutch Rabobank team have brought their superbus with them this year, having tested it out in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse. The bus is equipped with a shower cabin with enough space for three riders. A 700 litre water take, and a TV satellite dish capable of receiving up to 120 channels.

Driver Piet de Vos is quite happy with the transportation means, saying "I can tape the last hour of the stage with Dutch commentary, so the riders can follow the stage that same night."

Stage 8 / Limoges - Villeneuve-Sur-Lot / 203.5 Km

The Tour riders wont have time to stop for the Dordogne's famous fois gras, as more of the same kind of small, hilly roads as Stage 7 down towards the Pyrenees await the the Tour peloton on Saturday

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