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Tour News for July 10

Post-stage comments

Erik Zabel (Telekom, 1st stage)

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Erik Zabel
Photo: © AFP

"A big thank you to the team. They really worked as one during the last 15 kilometres. The great thing we accomplished demonstrates the good atmosphere in our team...contrary to the rumours."

"This stage had been selected before the Tour by my sporting director Rudy Pevenage. Today, the wind played a significant role in the finale Our team made a show of strength but, it is not insofar necessary to make comparisons with the US Postal team. It is not my win that will unsettle Armstrong."

Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole, 1st GC)
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Stuart O'Grady
Photo: © Sirotti

"I slept badly after my disappointment on the previous day. It was the worst day of my life. The finale was good for me today. Rabobank was strong."

"My teammates did an awesome job. I was worried about an attack at the finish but the Telekom guys were keeping it fast and steady."

"I have progressed to the main act. At the same time, I showed that my jersey of '98 was not an accident."

"Yesterday, I was very depressed. We will try to keep the jersey. We will discuss the tactics for the days to come in the hotel. We shouldn't forget the team time trial."

Christopher Jenner (Credit Agricole)

"With 25 kilometres to go, we realised that Wauters was dropped. The whole team started to ride in order to increase the gap. It was revenge because yesterday, the yellow jersey eluded us. Now we would like to keep it for as long as possible."

Stage 3 results

Casagrande loses time

The lack of pre-Tour racing proved to be too much for Fassa Bortolo's Francesco Casagrande today, as he was dropped in the early stages of the race, and suffered for the rest of the day, eventually losing 4'54 to finish 199th. That sort of time is very hard to make up, and it is unlikely that he will be a GC contender in this year's Tour.

Fassa Bortolo directeur sportif, Alberto Volpi, is unsure of the reason as to Casagrande's failure, and told Cyclingnews that he hopes that Casagrande does not get too tired before the mountains start.

Italians not off to a good start

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Daniele Nardello
Photo: © Sirotti

It's not only Casagrande who is in trouble, the entire Italian contingent in Le Tour has not had a great start to the race. National champion Daniele Nardello's fall on stage 1 cost him any chance of a good GC ride, and the Mapei rider can only hope for a stage win later on, and perhaps help Garzelli in the mountains.

There are not many stars such as Simoni, Pantani or Cipollini for the Italians to cheer for, and the best placed Italian is Matteo Tossato (Fassa Bortolo) in 20th place. The real GC candidates seem to be Garzelli and Basso. The former showed good form in sprinting to third today, but it remains to be seen whether he can find his legs in the mountains.

Bruyneel predicts a close battle

After observing Jan Ullrich's form for the first few days of the Tour, US Postal directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel is predicting a close battle between Lance Armstrong and Ullrich. The pair were never far apart in the tough finale of today's 198.5 kilometre miniature Ardennes classic, and Ullrich finished in 13th place, three behind Armstrong.

Bruyneel was mobbed by the Belgian press after the stage, as he was the last rider to win in Liege (and subsequently wear the yellow jersey) in 1995. He said he was "optimistic" that Armstrong would win the Tour. "Lance is in excellent condition and he is very calm."

"For the moment, he is satisfied to be able to stay out of trouble to avoid falls, common at the beginning of the race, and to always keep in contact with the front of the race in order not to stupidly waste time," added Bruyneel.

He expects a good fight between US Postal and "Deutsche Telekom in particular" during Thursday's 67 km team time trial. "Many regard US Postal as the favourites for this stage. But the way which Telekom raced today shows that the duel will be very tight. US Postal is ready for this first very significant moment of the Tour," he said.

"It is obviously not a pledge of success but after four days, we can be reasonably confident", he concluded.

Bruyneel should also bear in mind the threat posed by the ONCE team, which Bruyneel rode for in 1995 when he gained the yellow jersey in Liege. Before the start of today's stage, Cyclingnews asked ONCE's Jörg Jaksche about his chances for the Best Young Rider classification by the end of the Tour.

"I'm not too keen on that," said the talented German. "We've got other things in mind."

With Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano, Joseba Beloki, Carlos Sastre, Santos Gonzalez and Jörg Jaksche all in the top 20, don't be surprised if they win the TTT. Combined with that are the injuries to the Postal riders, including Rubiera, Vandevelde and Hamilton, after crashes in the early stages of the Tour.

Credit Agricole can't be ruled out either, having three riders in the top 6. Stage five will be a battle royale indeed!

More on ONCE's chances

On the other hand, the ONCE camp seem to be playing down their chances in the TTT on Thursday, with Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano saying that "It will not be as easy as everyone thinks."

"There are teams that have prepared very well, and are strong," he said. "I believe that we are not going to have it as easy as everybody thinks."

As for the first few days of the Tour" "They are nervous days, and it is hard to say that I am going well because it is quite fast and everybody has a lot of strength."

"I am good and I have come with the aim of doing as well as possible."

Anti-doping controls back to normal

After the UCI's annoyance at the way doping controls were handled yesterday, things returned to normal for today's stage 3 in Seraing. The Flemish government had imposed their own rules yesterday, which meant that the winner of the stage (Marc Wauters) was not tested, contrary to UCI rules. In addition, the tests that were taken were analysed in the laboratory in Gent, which is not authorised to carry out EPO tests.

With four separate sporting authorities doing drug testing during the Tour so far, the desired unification under the World Anti-Doping Agency has not occurred. The UCI were also annoyed that the Flemish antidoping regulations differed from the French, because they were translated. Therefore, they decided to annul all controls yesterday.

The Flemish government responded, with a statement being issued from a spokesman for the Minister of Sports, Bert Anciaux. "It was the first time that antidoping controls were done in collaboration with the local and legal authorities, and this proceeded without work. We could have found a more elegant solution."

Official communiqués

Weather: Sunny breaks at the beginning and during the course of the stage. Clouds thereafter. Throughout the whole parcours, winds from the south-west were blowing between 15-25 km/h, with maximums of 40-50 km/h. Temperatures were between 15-20 degrees.

Medical: Nicola Loda (Fassa Bortolo) and Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel): pain in the right knee; Rubiera (USPS), Chanteur (Festina), Laiseka (Euskaltel), Blaudzun (CSC), McGee (FdJ), Cassani (Domo): Fall, apparently not serious; Desbiens (Kelme): abandon due to persistent pain following his fall in the second stage

Police: Rolf Soerensen (CSC): 10 seconds penalty after being motorpaced by his directeur sportif

Verstrepen gets Grobbendonk prize

Lampre's Johan Verstrepen has won the prize for being the last Belgian rider to leave Grobbendonk, which was situated at the 18 km mark of today's stage. In order to score the BEF100,000 (US$2000), Verstrepen actually got off his bike after 10 kilometres, stopped and waited until everybody else had passed him to make sure he would come by as last Belgian rider.

Courtesy of Kris Verreth

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